Patrick champions Mass. health-care model, alternatives to 'fee for service'

Governor Deval Patrick makes the case for fashioning a new national health-care system based on what Massachusetts has accomplished and what remains to be done.

Writing in the opinion section of today's Wall Street Journal, the Democratic governor recalls cooperation among a Democratic senator, Republican governor, and Democratic legislature working with partners in health care, labor, and business to pass a 2006 law mandating near-universal health insurance coverage. He disputes the impression that the "Massachusetts experiment" comes with costs that are too high, citing Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation data on only moderate increases to the state budget.

"As more of our residents have become insured, there has been a decrease in demand for costly emergency-room care. Even in the midst of the current economic downturn, our state budget was balanced," he writes. "But the real issue is not the incremental costs of expanding coverage. It's the fact that medical costs even for those who have always had insurance are rising too fast."

That's where alternatives to traditional fee-for-service payments can help, he says, pointing to a state commission that recently proposed global payments as a way to reduce medical spending.

"As we work to translate this vision into practice, health care in the state will just get better," Patrick writes. "At the national level, nothing will happen if we fear change. But innovation can work for everyone if we give President Barack Obama and congressional leaders a chance to do what we have done in Massachusetts."