A study published in the American Journal of Medicine last March has shown that the healthcare reform in Massachusetts meant to be a model for the national reform has been ineffective in reducing medical bankruptcies, and may also fail to prevent bankruptcies in the future.
The study found that the reformed insurance rules in Massachusetts increased the number of insured people but didn't improve the quality of insurance available to them. Co-authors Dr. Steffie Woolhandler and Dr. David Himmelstein were professors at Harvard University during the research phase of the study and are now professors of public health at City University of New York.
The study is based on survey responses from nearly 500 randomly selected Massachusetts families that filed for bankruptcy in July 2009. This data was then compared to data from Massachusetts and the entire U.S. from 2007, prior to the healthcare reform in Massachusetts that began in 2008. The study found that medical bills consistently contributed to 52.9 percent of all bankruptcies in the state, both before and after the reform.
Dr. Woolhandler noted that, since the 2008 reform, insurance has become more expensive than ever in Massachusetts and is "really too much money for the average family." Between 2007 and 2009, bankruptcies in general in Massachusetts increased by 51 percent.
A similar study released in 2009 came to the conclusion that the Massachusetts reform should not be used as a model for national reform. The 2009 study was conducted by single payer advocate groups Physicians for a National Health Program and Public Citizen.
