Authors: Olveen Carrasquillo Joseph Betancourt
Publish Date: 2010/10/19
Volume: 25, Issue: 12, Pages: 1266-1267
Abstract
In September 2010 the US Census Bureau announced the number of uninsured persons in the USA had risen to the highest ever recorded at 507 million How much of a dent the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pub L 111148 PPACA commonly known as national health insurance reform will make on this crisis remains an ongoing question While modeling estimates suggest that up to 32 million may gain coverage many look to the Massachusetts health reform efforts begun in 2006 as a more real world experience of what may actually happen at the national level Similarities between both plans include Medicaid expansions subsidies for low income persons to obtain private coverage business tax credits individual and business mandates Analyses using distinct datasets have shown that after the Massachusetts law was enacted coverage in the state increased by approximately six percentage points1However these are unadjusted prepost comparisons How of much of that change can beDr Carrasquillo serves on the Board of Physicians for National Health Insurance and is vicepresident of Latinos for National Health Insurance He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Office of Minority Health for the Department of Health and Human Services Dr Betancourt serves on the Massachusetts Health Disparities Council The views expressed in this editorial are their own and do not reflect the views of their affiliated programs or institutions SGIM or any state or federal agency
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