Universal Massachusetts Health Care?

In 2004, Mitt Romney introduced legislation designed to get as close as practically possible to statewide universal health care in Massachusetts. From NPR:

Effective July 1, 2007, the law, which uses federal and state tax dollars, is aimed at making health insurance affordable to all residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including low-income populations. Those who fall below the federal poverty line may be eligible for health care at no cost. A Health Disparities Council has been created to monitor and reduce racial and ethnic health disparities.

The law's "Individual Mandate" provision underscores the state's requirement that each resident make it his or her personal responsibility to secure health care. Those who choose not to abide by the law will be subject to penalty. State income tax forms in 2008 will be used to verify insurance coverage.

Employers who do not offer health coverage to their employees will be subject to fees imposed by the state.

This may be the closest the United States will ever come to universal health care. I am interested since I would like to have concrete evidence whether some type of system which provides health care for everyone would work or not.

I would like to see whether the government can give out health care better and cheaper than the private sector. Michael Moore's new movie claims that's the case. The movie Sicko claims that the United States has a terrible health care system, #37 in the world, and it costs the American people far more than the universal systems of other countries. Ie.. he claims the government run health car has proven to be cheaper and better than what the private sector can provide according to real world statistics.

I honestly don't know if this could be the case in the US, but Massachusetts will help see things a little more clearly.