Over the past several years, a major debate has broken out among health policy watchers as to whether expanding insurance actually saves lives. About a year ago, I reported on a landmark study in Oregon that found no real improvement in physical health among those who had gained access to Medicaid.

But this week, another landmark study came out finding a significant reduction in mortality in Massachusetts after former Gov. Mitt Romney signed an expansion of insurance into law in 2006. Since that law served as the model for President Obama‘s health care law, it raises the question as to whether Obamacare‘s insurance expansion could save lives.