How Not To Reform Health Care

by Michael D. Tanner
This article appeared on National Review (Online) on June 9, 2009.

Massachusetts is widely touted as a model for health-care reform. It isn't.

As the national debate over health-care reform begins, many in Congress are looking to Massachusetts as a model for what that reform might look like. Indeed, from mandates and subsidies to some form of exchange or "connector," many of the key components of the Massachusetts reforms are likely to end up in the bill to be voted on this year.

But three years after it was voted in, experience suggests the "Massachusetts model" actually provides an object lesson in how not to reform health care. The program has failed in its main goal of achieving universal coverage. It has failed to restrain the growth in health-care costs. And it has greatly exceeded its initial budget, placing new burdens on the state's taxpayers.

GO HERE to read more.