Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/mass-health-care-plan-praised-but-struggles-with-cost Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Massachusetts' universal coverage plan has helped thousands of the state's residents gain health care -- but critics remain wary of the high costs of the program, both expected and unexpected. Susan Dentzer reports on how the Bay State is faring in its reform efforts. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, how Massachusetts is faring in its efforts to provide health care to the uninsured. Our report comes from Susan Dentzer of our Health Unit, a partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.SUSAN DENTZER, NewsHour health correspondent: Stephen Gore is an information technology specialist in Massachusetts. He had just battled kidney cancer when he lost his job and his private health insurance last year. STEPHEN GORE: I had no income, no health insurance, and I was a year-and-a-half out of cancer treatment. My wife and I were pretty hopeless. We were a mess. We were just — we didn't know what to do. We didn't know where to turn. SUSAN DENTZER: But Gore and his wife soon learned they were eligible for coverage under a new Massachusetts program for the uninsured. They enrolled in the state-funded program and it began paying the bills for Gore's post-cancer care. STEPHEN GORE: I was able to go to see my regular specialist. I was able to have prescription coverage. We had the safety net, and that's what saved my sanity during that time. SUSAN DENTZER: The program Gore enrolled in, called Commonwealth Care, is one of many fruits of Massachusetts' two-year-old health reforms. The key goal of those changes was to spread health coverage to the roughly 550,000 state residents who lacked it.Now, says the state's governor, Democrat Deval Patrick, the state is more than halfway there.GOV. DEVAL PATRICK (D), Massachusetts: There are 300,000 adults and children who were uninsured just a year ago who are insured today and have access to quality primary care, and that's great news.It's a thing in progress, but we have tried something. See, we've gotten off the dime. And those 300,000 adults and children who were insured this year who weren't last year are getting great care. STEPHEN GORE: I still have a little something under my ribs that I'm keeping an eye on.