Paper/Proposal Title
Engaging Human Rights Norms to Realize Universal and Equitable Health Care in Massachusetts
Start Date
11-8-2017 3:30 PM
Keywords
Chapter 58, Affordable Care Act, Universal health care, Right to Health, Human Rights
Abstract
Massachusetts health care law served as the model in 2010 for the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). In 2006, Massachusetts adopted sweeping health care reforms. The law sought to increase health care insurance coverage for residents of Massachusetts by:
(1) Mandating that all adults in the state have health care insurance unless an affordable option was not available;
(2) Expanding Medicaid;
(3) Creating a new program of subsidized private insurance for low- and moderate-income residents; and
(4) Establishing a transparent health care insurance market exchange.
Previous studies on the Massachusetts health care reforms of 2006 have analyzed progress in comparison to the pre-2006 situation. Findings include the achievement of greater health insurance coverage and health service utilization; they also reveal that about 250,000 Massachusetts residents are still without health insurance; many people with health insurance cannot afford health care due to high deductibles and co-payments; and high medical debt and bankruptcies persist.
Ten years after its adoption, this study assesses the success of the 2006 Massachusetts reforms by comparing the health care system today not to the pre-2006 situation, but to international legal and ethical norms on the human right to health care. Additionally, researchers interviewed twenty-five experts on the Massachusetts 2006 health care reform to explore their opinions on whether human rights frameworks generally, or the international human right to health care in particular, could be useful in securing universal and equitable health care in the state.
The study concludes with recommendations on the ways in which human rights norms might be most usefully engaged toward realizing the right to health care for all in Massachusetts. As many of the Massachusetts reforms have now been adopted, pursuant to the PPACA, in other states, the insights from this study might prove useful beyond Massachusetts as well.
Included in
Engaging Human Rights Norms to Realize Universal and Equitable Health Care in Massachusetts
Massachusetts health care law served as the model in 2010 for the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). In 2006, Massachusetts adopted sweeping health care reforms. The law sought to increase health care insurance coverage for residents of Massachusetts by:
(1) Mandating that all adults in the state have health care insurance unless an affordable option was not available;
(2) Expanding Medicaid;
(3) Creating a new program of subsidized private insurance for low- and moderate-income residents; and
(4) Establishing a transparent health care insurance market exchange.
Previous studies on the Massachusetts health care reforms of 2006 have analyzed progress in comparison to the pre-2006 situation. Findings include the achievement of greater health insurance coverage and health service utilization; they also reveal that about 250,000 Massachusetts residents are still without health insurance; many people with health insurance cannot afford health care due to high deductibles and co-payments; and high medical debt and bankruptcies persist.
Ten years after its adoption, this study assesses the success of the 2006 Massachusetts reforms by comparing the health care system today not to the pre-2006 situation, but to international legal and ethical norms on the human right to health care. Additionally, researchers interviewed twenty-five experts on the Massachusetts 2006 health care reform to explore their opinions on whether human rights frameworks generally, or the international human right to health care in particular, could be useful in securing universal and equitable health care in the state.
The study concludes with recommendations on the ways in which human rights norms might be most usefully engaged toward realizing the right to health care for all in Massachusetts. As many of the Massachusetts reforms have now been adopted, pursuant to the PPACA, in other states, the insights from this study might prove useful beyond Massachusetts as well.
