In 2006 Massachusetts passed a new health reform law that aims to achieve universal health coverage by requiring the uninsured to purchase their own health care on the private market, or face stiff tax penalties. The plan is being copied in state proposals around the country as an alternative to single-payer reform. As health care emerges as the top domestic issue of the 2008 Presidential election, lead candidates in both parties are proposing variations on the Massachusetts law.

But before we replicate this model around the country, advocates for a just health care system need to know where this Massachusetts law came from, who gets what from this model of reform, and who pays for it.

We propose that a panel of health care activists from around the country – hailing from the labor movement, community groups, and health reform organizations – turn a critical eye on the Massachusetts model of reform, and stimulate a discussion amongst activists and concerned residents from across the country. A close look at the Massachusetts model for reform gives us an excellent window onto the emerging national debate over what to do with our floundering health care system.