Also, there was serious disagreement about the number of uninsured when the law was being developed, and it was mostly the greater number of uninsured joining the new program that drove costs above what was expected. I find it curious to think that if the legislature and the governor had determined that there was a bigger problem of uninsured than originally thought, this would have led them to do nothing. Alternatively, they might have scaled back the program, or called for more employer or tax financing - but this might have scuttled the entire proposal. So it is also possible that they all knew that their were more uninsured than estimated, but by going with the more optimistic number they were able to keep their political coalition together to pass the law.

I guess the bottom line question is, would the state of the Commonwealth be better off if they had not passed the law and enacted the program? There would be less government spending, but there would also be hundreds of thousands of more people without health insurance.