Controlling Health Care Spending – The Massachusetts Experiment.

As debate rages on about implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), national attention is once again focused on Massachusetts, which instituted a similar comprehensive health care reform package in 2006. After expanding health insurance coverage to almost 98% of the state population, Massachusetts is now struggling to control increasing health care costs that threaten the continued viability of its reforms. This second phase of health care reform presents entirely new challenges. Whereas expanding coverage has popular appeal, cost control does not. Whereas expanding coverage injects additional dollars into the health care system, cost control does the opposite. Whereas expanding coverage can be relatively simple, cost control is difficult. Yet despite these obstacles, Massachusetts forges ahead, with a combination of public and private efforts at payment reform on an unprecedented scale. (April 26, 2012)