Contributor
Robert J. Blendon
Related Link: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/horp
Biography provided by participant
Robert J. Blendon is professor of health policy and political analysis at both the Harvard School of Public Health and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He directs the Harvard Opinion Research Program, which focuses on measuring and understanding public opinion in the United States and in other countries on health and other domestic policy issues. He teaches courses on health politics and public opinion polling at Harvard. He is also a Past President of the Association of Health Services Research and winner of their Distinguished Investigator Award. He is also a recipient of the Baxter Award for lifetime achievement in the health services research field.
Recent Responses
November 30, 2009 08:22 AM
Look To Massachusetts
There is a prevailing belief among many in Washington that if enough votes can be garnered in the Congress to enact some major health care bill, it ultimately will be popular with the public and become an established part of the health policy landscape, like Medicare.
But looking back at history suggests that this outcome is not an absolute certainty. It depends on the design of the legislation and its impact during the early, most vulnerable years.
Two examples of where the story ended quite badly are the first Massachusetts universal health care bill in 1988 and the Medicare Catastrophic Insurance Act in 1988. In 1988, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis signed the Health Security Act into law intended to provide universal health coverage in the state. It required all employers to contribute to their employees’ health insurance (very similar to that found in the current House bill).
The employer mandate provision was not to take effect for four years. By then public and media interest had shifted to other is
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