More than half of primary care physicians in Massachusetts are no longer accepting new patients, and more patients than ever are facing lengthy wait times to see both primary care and specialty doctors, according to a new report.
Despite being the state that was ahead of the game on health care reform when then-Gov. Mitt Romney passed the universal health care law in 2006, the report released Monday by the Massachusetts Medical Society shows critical statistics of health care in the state are worrying doctors.
“Massachusetts has made great strides in securing insurance coverage for its citizens,” said Dr. Alice Coombs, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. “But insurance coverage doesn’t equal access to care. We still have much work to do to reduce wait times and widen access. This has important implications for health care cost control, as difficulty or delay with routine access to care leads people to seek other options, such as the emergency room, which is much more costly.” 
Recommended For You
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
