Most of our members already know what's wrong with the individual insurance market: it's incredibly expensive. (Just as an example, here in New York State, the types of plans Freelancers Union offers would cost about three times as much for an individual buying directly from an insurance company.) For this reason and for many others, Emily Friedman, at Hospitals & Health Networks Online, lambasts the Massachusetts plan, which would leave a lot of people to buy insurance on their own (via The Health Care Blog). Obviously, we think that the individual market is dreadful--that's why we exist. But that's not reason enough to decry the efforts in Masschusetts. We just think that people should be allowed to form groups that aren't employer-based. If you're paying for your health insurance all on your own, you should at least have options.