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Groups around the country are inviting Mass. legislators, lobbyists and activists to speak

December 5, 2006...Until he helped craft the state's groundbreaking healthcare overhaul law, state Senator Richard T. Moore wasn't exactly in demand as a national speaker.

Now the six-term Uxbridge Democrat is a healthcare policy celebrity, traveling the country to explain the state's effort to extend health coverage to uninsured residents. He has appeared before legislators, think tanks, physicians groups, and business associations. Just last Thursday he spoke at a conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., organized by a foundation that focuses on healthcare issues.

"Everybody's looking for solutions to the problem of providing access to care and keeping the cost within reason," said Moore, who co chairs the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, "They want to know more about Massachusetts' law to see if it's something they can apply in their case."

When the overhaul measure became law in April, some dismissed its national significance, saying universal healthcare is more feasible in Massachusetts than in most other states because it has a relatively low number of uninsured residents and an established pool of money to provide free care for low-income residents. But politicians and policy makers nationwide are still eager to hear the Massachusetts story.

Moore's hectic schedule is typical of other state lawmakers, lobbyists, and activists instrumental in the healthcare revamp. Besides the Arizona trip, he has met with lawmakers and business leaders in California, spoken to the Academy of Family Physicians in Austin, Texas, and met with New Jersey legislators at Ellis Island in New York Harbor. An Irish member of Parliament even came to Boston to chat, and a session with Iowa legislators is planned for later this month.

"Because we've done something big and bold, and because we have an ambitious goal of getting to universal coverage, that has energized the coverage conversation in many other states," said Nancy Turnbull , executive director of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts, who has also traveled extensively to talk about healthcare reform.

Subsidized health plans for low-income residents will be offered starting Jan. 1. Beginning July 1, full-price plans will be available through the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, and individuals will be required to buy insurance or face the loss of their state income tax deduction. The goal is to provide coverage for about 400,000 residents who now lack it.

John McDonough , executive director of Health Care for All, one of the advocacy groups behind the law, traveled to California and Colorado during the summer to talk about what is happening here.

"We tell people not to look at our law as a policy blueprint where you can just take the architectural drawings and lay them over another state," he said. "It's a political blueprint. You can take the dynamic and the ideas to trigger a new and more ambitious conversation in your state."

Victoria Burgess , healthcare policy analyst for the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, has spoken about healthcare reform to groups in New Jersey, New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. "There are parts of the Massachusetts law that can be exportable," she said.

For instance, Burgess said, the law requires companies that don't offer health coverage to employees to set up so-called cafeteria plans, which allow workers to purchase health insurance with pre-tax dollars, at a modest cost to employers. That's something other states could easily do, she said.

Linda Mather , executive director of the Forums Institute for Public Policy in Princeton, N.J., said her group is "excited" by the Massachusetts effort. "You can't just take this and transplant it somewhere else, but you can say, 'These are the parts that could work here,' " Mather said.

The institute hosted a July conference in Trenton at which Burgess and Michael Doonan , executive director of the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, spoke to 80 people, including officials from the governor's office, legislators, advocates, and health insurance industry officials.

Others on the Massachusetts healthcare overhaul speaking circuit include Representative Patricia Walrath , co chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, and Timothy Murphy , secretary of health and human services. The speaking engagements often bring together participants who have been adversaries on healthcare issues.

McDonough, who wants businesses to contribute more to employee health insurance coverage, recently went to California with Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Widmer has said the law should not be considered a mandate for companies to contribute more to workers' healthcare.

Other states are watching to see what role businesses ultimately play in footing the bill for reform, said Crystal Hayling , chief executive of the Blue Shield of California Foundation.

"We're interested in your process and how you got people to the table," said Hayling. "We're very interested in the idea of shared responsibility. Everybody's going to feel some pain."

Richard C. Lord , chief executive of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the state's largest business lobby, has spoken to a healthcare policy forum and a manufacturing trade group in Washington, D.C. Like Moore, he's planning to attend next month's meeting in Iowa.

"We're always fighting off things we don't like," Lord said. "We'd like to do something positive."

The healthcare speakers said their travel expenses are paid by the groups that invite them, but that hitting the road to talk about reform is not glamorous. Sometimes it can even be painful.

Burgess, of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said she received a nasty spider bite on her leg while in New Jersey. To make matters worse, two doctors at the conference she was attending were unable to correctly diagnose her condition. "They thought it was Lyme disease," Burgess said.

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