Something we can all be proud of.
From the Globe:
Nearly three-quarters of previously uninsured Massachusetts residents now have medical coverage under the state’s landmark campaign to extend health insurance to virtually all Bay Staters, according to a report released yesterday by Governor Deval Patrick’s administration.
Since the program’s launch in June 2006, 439,000 more people have enrolled in health insurance, and nearly half of them signed up for private insurance not funded by taxpayers, says the report from the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy. Before 2006, studies had estimated that about 600,000 Massachusetts residents lacked health insurance.
Even better, by having insurance, many people who would otherwise use Emergency Rooms as their source of primary care, no longer have to.
… [F]rom July through September 2007, the most recent period for which data is available, the number of visits to hospitals and community health centers by the uninsured declined by 37 percent, compared with the same period a year earlier, the report said.
Go Massachusetts!
(Yeah, I know, it’s costing a lot of money. Sorry about that.)
Source: 439,000 more get health coverage; State shows big gains in landmark program – By Kay Lazar, The Boston Globe
