The Boston Globe reports in its August 23 edition that HMO reform is defining the race for Massachusetts Attorney General: "Because the Legislature failed to pass an HMO reform bill when formal sessions ended July 31, and with patients feeling increasingly threatened about access to care..." 

HMO reform is being framed as the issue by the Democratic party for Campaign '98, but are Bay State voters really as concerned about their HMOs as the politicians want you to believe, or is this a classic case of an agenda in search of an issue? If Massachusetts public opinion is the same as that of the rest of the Nation, the latter may be the case. 

As Tim Lamer of the Media Research Center recently reported, an overwhelming majority of Americans like their HMOs and are not overly concerned about health care. Lamer goes on to make another point, missing in the candidates plans for reform, and the Globe's report. The real cause of limited health care choice is the tax code, and less regulation, rather then more, is the only way Massachusetts voters will truly have the freedom to choose how they receive their own health care. 
 

Back to Front Page