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| | == [[Heritage Foundation]] Support == | | == [[Heritage Foundation]] Support == |
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| − | The [[Heritage Foundation]], traditionally a [[conservative]] think tank, surprisingly supported the Massachusetts plan. In 2006, for example, Heritage wrote:<ref>http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg1953.cfm</ref> | + | The [[Heritage Foundation]], traditionally a [[conservative]] think tank, surprisingly supported the Massachusetts plan. Then-Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, presented his health plan at Heritage at its invitation, and Heritage lent [[conservative]] credentials to the big government plan. For example, Heritage described the mandate compelling individuals to purchase insurance as a solution to the "free rider" problem of people obtaining free medical care without paying for it. "Under federal law, nearly all hospitals are required to provide a certain level of treatment to all patients who visit their emergency rooms, regardless of those patients’ ability to pay."<ref>http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCAre/wm1045.cfm</ref> Yet the Massachusetts plan does nothing to require non-taxpayers to have insurance, such as illegal aliens or people without income. |
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| | + | After passage in 2006, Heritage promoted the plan further:<ref>http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg1953.cfm</ref> |
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| | :Massachusetts officials have made significant strides in reforming their health insurance market, and other states can learn from the Massachusetts experience. States should build on the solid features of the Connector: the establishment of a statewide health insurance exchange to allow individuals to buy and own health insurance without losing favorable tax treatment and direct assistance to low-income individuals and families for the purchase of private coverage using existing government funds. ... | | :Massachusetts officials have made significant strides in reforming their health insurance market, and other states can learn from the Massachusetts experience. States should build on the solid features of the Connector: the establishment of a statewide health insurance exchange to allow individuals to buy and own health insurance without losing favorable tax treatment and direct assistance to low-income individuals and families for the purchase of private coverage using existing government funds. ... |
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| − | Praise by Heritage continued through 2007:<ref>http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed050606a.cfm</ref> | + | In April 2007, Heritage wrote that "Massachusetts's experiment in health market reform is already showing progress," concluding that "Massachusetts enacted a major reorganization of its health insurance market to allow, for the first time, small business employees the right to own personal and portable health insurance that they can take from job to job without a loss of tax benefits."<ref>http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm1414.cfm</ref> Praise by Heritage continued through 2007:<ref>http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed050606a.cfm</ref> |
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| | "Massachusetts has reached a bipartisan agreement to give citizens what they really want: a health system with all the familiar comforts of existing employer group coverage, but with the added benefits of portability, choice, and consumer control. Those are huge positives." | | "Massachusetts has reached a bipartisan agreement to give citizens what they really want: a health system with all the familiar comforts of existing employer group coverage, but with the added benefits of portability, choice, and consumer control. Those are huge positives." |
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| | ==Sources== | | ==Sources== |