HuffPo Readers Comment Copiously On MA Health Reform

Wow. Just in case you were wondering whether the rest of the country is really watching and debating  Massachusetts health reform, consider the 1,400 comments — 1,400!! — that have rolled in below this Huffington Post story posted yesterday.

The post opens:

WASHINGTON — Five years after Mitt Romney signed a landmark health care law that paved the way for President Obama’s controversial national reform, an unscientific survey of Massachusetts HuffPost readers found widespread satisfaction with the state's health insurance coverage.

Responses from more than 50 current or former Massachusetts residents asked by HuffPost about their experiences confirms a recent poll that shows a large majority of Bay State residents like “RomneyCare.”

The piece gets it salt from Romney's recent attempts to publicly distance himself from the landmark 2006 Massachusetts health reform that he helped bring in. But I found most interesting the plethora of vignettes it gathered from Massachusetts residents of all stripes, most of them praising the effects of the reform but several pointing out its shortcomings. There's more of the same in the hundreds of comments, too, including a patient who went bankrupt because of a major operation here. An excerpt:

“The Massachusetts health plan was life-saving in many ways and we were, and are, exceedingly grateful for it. We couldn't believe a Republican designed it!” she wrote. “It enabled my husband to have many years (of) overdue blood work, and also hearing aids that have changed his life. This is not even a benefit on most so-called standard health plans. It also enabled me to receive dental care at much reduced costs.” (Huffington Post)