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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: Health Care Reform Costs On Target with Estimates

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Friday, July 31, 2009   

Boston, MA - A new report on Massachusetts' Health Care Reform law counters criticism raised in the federal debate over health care reform. Since its passage three years ago, the law has served as a model for health care reform debates and discussions nationwide. The study, issued by the nonprofit Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, suggests the reform law, which established the state-run Commonwealth Care program, is not the cause of budget problems that have led to cuts in the state health care system. Rather, the report points to the collapse of state revenues. Recent cuts to Commonwealth Care have sparked new concerns over the affordability of health care reform.

Foundation president Michael Widmer says the costs of reform have been very much in line with initial projections.

"Despite the widespread notion in Washington that Massachusetts' health reform is falling apart because it's unaffordable, our study shows there is no basis in fact for that conclusion."

Part of the confusion over costs is due to the state's fiscal crisis, according to Widmer.

"As a result, we are having to make some cuts in virtually every state program, but that doesn't mean health reform is unaffordable, it means that it hasn't totally escaped the cutting knife.

Widmer believes the key to the success of the state's reform is the "shared responsibility" aspect of the law, which shares the financial responsibility between the taxpayer, individuals and employers. Some critics of the health reform law say it creates an unfair financial burden for employers. Since the health care reform law passed, an additional 450,000 residents have gained health insurance coverage, giving the state the lowest uninsured rate in the country.

The report, Massachusetts Health Reform: The Myth of Uncontrolled Costs, can be found at www.masstaxpayers.org.




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