Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick joined Tuesday’s All In with Chris Hayes to discuss concerns about the new Obamacare website. Seven years ago, the state pioneered health insurance reform and now approximately 97% of residents have coverage.
“We had glitches when we got going as well. It was first too slow to get people signed up, then too complicated,” said Patrick, echoing current complaints with the ACA.
There is one glaring difference between the Massachusetts program and Obamacare: the absence of intransigent House Republicans. “We had a great advantage, to tell you the truth, that the president may not have,” Patrick said. “There was a broad coalition that came together to invent health care reform here…It was bipartisan and had all kinds of participants from policy makers, providers, down to insurers and patient advocates.”
The governor encouraged we look at the larger picture: “The thing to remember is that the ACA is not a website, it’s a value statement. It’s about whether we believe health is a public good.”
