Incremental steps to improve the health care system can lay the
foundation for comprehensive reform that provides health care for all.
Comprehensive reforms enacted in
Massachusetts,
Vermont,
Maine and San Francisco were, in large part, the result of pragmatic incremental steps those states had already taken. For example, a
Families USA report discusses the many reforms Massachusetts put in place over the years that led to its comprehensive 2006 reform.
Not every state is as far along in moving comprehensive health care reform, but
each state does have numerous options for increasing access to
coverage, reducing the growth of health care costs, and improving the
quality of care.
