Media
States’ “Universal” Health Care plans not delivering
Maine’s uninsured rate did not improve significantly between 2003 and 2006 despite a universal health care initiative passed in 2003, according to a report issued in late August by The Maine Heritage Policy Center.
In 2003, when the initiative passed, 126,000 people in Maine–11.8 percent of the state’s population–were uninsured, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. By 2006, the uninsured rate had fallen just one percentage point, to 10.8 percent, with 122,000 uninsured in a state whose population remained relatively unchanged over the period.
and in Massachusettes:
The latest reports from Massachusetts warn that with just seven weeks left until the state’s mandate for individual health insurance goes into effect, more than 100,000 residents have failed to buy the required insurance. That represents nearly 20 percent of the state’s uninsured population and more than half of the uninsured with incomes too high to qualify for subsidies.