BBC looks at 'brave' Mass. healthcare initiative

In a report on the state's new law requiring near-universal health coverage, the BBC asks if Massachusetts can serve as a model for the nation, which lags behind poorer countries in some health measures despite its wealth.

"It is a brave attempt to address gaps in US healthcare without trampling on a core US value: freedom of choice," says the British story, which includes interviews with Massachusetts General Hospital's Dr. David Torchiana, former Health Care For All chief John McDonough, Commonwealth Connector head Jon Kingsdale, and Roxbury minister Reverend Hurmon Hamilton.

"Its survival is very dependent on political will," the story concludes. "All eyes, then, on the presidential elections in November."

A USA Today story also timed to the one-year anniversary of the law's deadline for obtaining coverage focuses on the costs of the effort.

"Some will say it's an overwhelming success story. Others will say it has cost somewhat more than expected, so we can't afford to expand coverage," Drew Altman, president of the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation, tells the paper. "The truth is somewhere in the middle."