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BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- By next summer, Massachusetts may cross a threshold that has eluded presidents, governors and other political leaders for generations by becoming the first state to require universal health care coverage.
Massachusetts took a major step toward that accomplishment Wednesday when Gov. Mitt Romney signed legislation designed to guarantee coverage for virtually all residents by July 2007, including an estimated 550,000 people who are now uninsured.
The law has set a standard for other states and thrust Massachusetts to the forefront of the national debate about how to dramatically expand health care coverage without creating a single government-controlled system.
Even as he signed the law amid fanfare at historic Faneuil Hall, Romney faced criticism for vetoing a key portion of the legislation: a $295 per employee annual fee on businesses that do not provide their employees with coverage.
The law also provides subsidies and sliding-scale premiums to get poor and low-income residents into health plans and require those deemed able to afford insurance to purchase a policy.
"We have found a way, collectively, to get all of our citizens insurance without some new government-mandated takeover or a huge new tax program," Romney said.
Romney is weighing a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and the law could be a centerpiece of that campaign.
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- By next summer, Massachusetts may cross a threshold that has eluded presidents, governors and other political leaders for generations by becoming the first state to require universal health care coverage.
Massachusetts took a major step toward that accomplishment Wednesday when Gov. Mitt Romney signed legislation designed to guarantee coverage for virtually all residents by July 2007, including an estimated 550,000 people who are now uninsured.
The law has set a standard for other states and thrust Massachusetts to the forefront of the national debate about how to dramatically expand health care coverage without creating a single government-controlled system.
Even as he signed the law amid fanfare at historic Faneuil Hall, Romney faced criticism for vetoing a key portion of the legislation: a $295 per employee annual fee on businesses that do not provide their employees with coverage.
The law also provides subsidies and sliding-scale premiums to get poor and low-income residents into health plans and require those deemed able to afford insurance to purchase a policy.
"We have found a way, collectively, to get all of our citizens insurance without some new government-mandated takeover or a huge new tax program," Romney said.
Romney is weighing a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and the law could be a centerpiece of that campaign.
