'Can't Imagine Life Without It': 10 Years After Mass. Health Reform, Residents Speak About Law's Impact

On this day, 10 years ago, the hottest ticket in town was for a seat in Faneuil Hall, to watch then-Gov. Mitt Romney sign the state's new health coverage law and describe its goals.

"Every citizen with affordable, comprehensive health insurance, small businesses able to conveniently buy insurance for their employees at a cost that's competitive with big businesses, medical transparency bringing marketplace dynamics to health care — really for the first time — and finally, beginning to rein in health care inflation," Romney said in 2006.

Today, we have compiled some facts and figures on the 10th anniversary. There's also a collection of essays from health care experts of all stripes assessing the law's first decade.

On Morning Edition today, we hear from a different group: Massachusetts residents, including several who did not have insurance before the state's first-of-its-kind law.