Rasmussen: 37% say Massachusett’s universal health insurance is a failure; 26% call it a success

One reason that Congress appears to be backing off creating a public option health insurance plan that would compete with private health insurers is that the Massachusetts universal plan that has been touted as a model for the public option isn’t working out as expected..

In a new Rasmussen poll, 37% of Massachusetts voters called the state’s universal health insurance scheme a failure, compared with 26% who called it a success. 37% of respondents to the poll said they aren’t sure whether the plan is a success or failure.

53% of the state’s voters say they haven’t seen any change in the quality of health care, 29% say it has gotten worse and 10% say it has gotten better.

Similarly, 44% of the state’s voters say they’ve seen no change in the affordability of health care, 27% say health care has become less affordable and 21% say health care is more affordable.

As has been widely reported, the state has had to cut benefits because of the unexpectedly high cost of the plan. A veto-proof state legislature made the plan more costly over the objections of Mitt Romney who was governor when the plan was enacted in 2006.

Rasmussen reports that 50% of American voters “at least somewhat” favor the Democrats’ health insurance plan that is making its way through Congress, and 45% oppose. The poll found, however, that 24% strongly favor the plan while 34% are strongly opposed, according to Rasmussen.

So far, it isn’t clear what the Democrats’ plan is because several are under consideration.

Links:

Access-to-care problems are resurfacing in Mass. American Medical News.

Bad Massachusetts health care plan in bad trouble. OpenmediaBoston.org.

Massachusetts health care: A model not to copy: Phyllis Schlafly

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