A new report (pdf) on the Massachusetts healthcare system has the WSJ crowing about the failures of Romneycare. One complaint is about longer wait times to see primary care doctors. Jonathan Cohn checks the data:
I’ve … heard plenty of anecdotes about long waits in Massachusetts, so I’m not dismissing the possibility reform has exacerbated the crowding problem. But my strong hunch is that the real story in Massachusetts is an old one that’s plagued the entire country for some time now: We don’t have nearly enough primary care providers. As Nancy Turnbull, a longtime state official who now lectures at Harvard, told the Boston Globe after last year’s ER report, “I don’t think the increase has anything to do with health care reform. It’s much more reflective of [primary care] access problems.’’
Speaking of Romney, he’s scheduled to give a speech this Thursday on how he will repeal and replace Obamacare. Greg Sargent expects it won’t accomplish much.
The Dish 