Anyone interested in the plan's progress will find this must reading.
From their overview:
As Massachusetts' landmark effort to reach nearly universal health coverage continues, affordability of coverage remains a key concern for individuals and small employers, according to a study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).
"Despite reforms of the individual and small-group health insurance markets, including development of new insurance products, concerns remain about the affordability of coverage and the ability to stem rising health care costs," said Paul B. Ginsburg, Ph.D., president of HSC, a nonpartisan policy research organization funded primarily by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
Funded by RWJF, the study's findings are detailed in a new HSC Issue Brief—Massachusetts Health Reform: Employers, Lower-Wage Workers and Universal Coverage—available here. The study was based on interviews with about 25 market observers in January 2007, including representatives of employer groups, state agencies, health plans, providers, advocates and other health care leaders knowledgeable about the reform. HSC's Community Tracking Study site visit to Boston in June 2007 provided additional perspectives on the reform.
