Health Care: Simple Needs, Complex Solutions

If the Obama Administration and Congress attempt to bring America closer to full health care coverage as promised, the conversation inevitably will focus on Massachusetts, the state that has made the boldest effort in the country toward that goal.

On Nightly News tonight we begin a two-part series on the Massachusetts experiment. And we must emphasize that it is indeed an experiment. No one can predict whether it will succeed. But according to a recent Harvard poll, the residents of the state are overwhelmingly satisfied.

As I noted in a report last week on the Obama plans, the details of health care reform can be mind-numbingly complex, but Americans want something simple: freedom from worry that they either lack good health coverage or might lose the coverage they have.

The Massachusetts program has already managed to lower the rate of uninsured in the state to 3.3 percent compared to the national average of 16 percent. Since it began two years ago, 440,000 formerly uninsured residents out of a total population of about 6.4 million have gained health care coverage.

The program managed to get passed in 2006 because then Republican Governor Mitt Romney and the Democratic legislature worked together to make it happen. It builds on the systems that were already in place, and rests on an concept of "shared responsibility."