According to report from the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, over two-thirds of residents who were uninsured in 2006 now have coverage. The Globe article also reported that the state is actually saving millions of dollars because the number of emergency room visits has drastically gone down.

Research director for Health Care for All, Brian Rosman, states, "This shows a cultural shift in public attitude, where people understand that as a community, by everyone getting health insurance, we are improving the health of everybody."

The critics of the mandate laws argue that it lowers health care access, raises insurance premiums, and is dependent on government bureaucracies, inefficiently,to run the health care. They also say that these laws create a desire for people to jump on the government coverage wagon rather than get their own private health plan.

The report, however, showed something different. Almost half of the newly insured Massachusetts residents got their coverage through an employer or found a plan in the individual market. Still, costs for Commonwealth Care, the state-subsidized health care plan, are steadily increasing. The state has even asked for $11 billion in federal funds to help finance the plan over the next three years.