BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Mitt Romney signed legislation Wednesday that would make Massachusetts the first state to require everyone to have health insurance, just as drivers must have automobile coverage.
The law would make Massachusetts the only state with universal health coverage, employing a combination of subsidies and penalties to make insurance more affordable and to force people to buy it, too.
However, Romney vetoed a section imposing an annual $295-per-worker fee on businesses that do not provide their employees with coverage.
The law has thrust the state to the forefront of the national debate over how to extend coverage to the uninsured without creating a single government-controlled system. Massachusetts has an estimated 550,000 uninsured.