State’s mandate on health coverage has avoided legal challenge so far

David Kibbe.

When former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and legislative leaders developed a first-in-the-nation law to provide nearly universal health care, it was based on two bold premises:

One, that the state could impose a mandate requiring people to buy health insurance if it was deemed affordable. And second, that businesses with more than 10 employees could be assessed a $295 annual penalty per employee if they did not offer adequate health insurance plans to their workers.

From the time it was signed into law in April 2006, national and local political observers predicted it would be tested in the courts.

So far, no legal challenges have been brought by an individual or a business.”  Full article.

Doctors Give Massachusetts Health Reform a Failing Grade – Poor Early Outcomes Raise Red Flags

Over 250 Massachusetts doctors have signed an open letter to the country warning that the health reform model enacted by Massachusetts is failing and that a single payer program is the only alternative.
“It is urgent that the rest of the country know that Massachusetts is a living laboratory for the health care reforms being pushed in California and by the Obama/Clinton/Edwards campaigns. Right now the Gov. Romney/Massachusetts’ plan gets a failing grade on the ground,” said Dr.Rachel Nardin, Assistant Professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. Full text of letter.