I am skeptical of Massachusetts’ results as reported in this paper. Since initially signing up people for Commonwealth Care, there has been a steady trend of disenrolling people who are no longer eligible or who were not eligible in the first place. Also the state initially reported a 6% uninsured rate but this study refers to an 11% uninsured rate – which could be right but shows how slippery the true information is in evaluating the reform.
I agree that the downturn in the economy will have significant impact on the uninsured and the need/growth of public programs to the extent the money is there to fund such programs. I am concerned that if Massachusetts uninsured were underestimated, is that the case around the country where other states have notably higher uninsured rates like CA and TX? And by the way, are our illegal aliens counted in these totals because they also show up in our medical facilities for free care…
