So, how's that Massachusetts health insurance plan working out? I don't live in Mass., but I am one of the many people in the country having to purchase private healthcare coverage for myself and my family.→[More:] It's an onerous financial burden or highly questionable (yet, ultimately, necessary) worth. We're talking monthly payments equal to our mortgage payment.

The Mass. plan is being held-up as a potential template for similar state plans and, potentially, a national plan. So, I'd like to know a bit more about how the plan is working out in real life.

How does the plan work? Is it simply a system where the consumer purchases a plan and then the state kicks-in for a part of the monthly payments? Or is there more to it? Is the state's part of the deal determined on a weighted scale of some sort? More to the poor and elderly and not much to the middle class?

Is there anything in the law to pressure insurers to lower their rates to consumers? Or are they pretty much left alone to continue business as usual?

Obviously, as a consumer of private health insurance, I have some definite opinions about the industry and what changes should happen to make things affordable for families. So, I'm really interested in hearing how the Mass. plan is working out.