What We Know About Health Reform in Massachusetts

The brief’s key findings are *Numerous studies have examined the impact of Massachusetts’ landmark 2006 health care reform, the basis for the national Affordable Care Act. *The results suggest that the Massachusetts reform has largely succeeded by: *reducing uninsurance rates; *improving health care access and health outcomes; and *inducing more firms to offer coverage, without raising unemployment. *At the same time improving access to non-employer coverage may have reduced labor force participation for men age 55- 64. *Finally, while health care cost growth has slowed in recent years, cost control remains a challenge