Reports for Coverage and Care

This policy brief based on data from the 2008 Massachusetts Health Reform Survey shows that while health reform in Massachusetts has succeeded in increasing health insurance coverage and access to care, use of emergency departments by working-age residents remains high. Those seeking care in EDs 5/have trouble accessing care in other settings. They are less likely to use a doctors office or private clinic as their usual source of care and they are somewhat less likely to report having a place they usually go to (other than the ED) when they are sick or need advice about their health.

This policy brief describes the rate of uninsurance among working-age adults in Massachusetts and public support for health reform. This brief is part of a series funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on implementation of the Massachusetts reforms.

This policy brief by Sharon Long of The Urban Institute measures geographic and racial disparities in access to health care in Massachusetts. The data in the brief comes from the third annual Massachusetts Health Reform Survey. This revised version of the policy brief, which was originally published 5/28/2009, reflects changes made after an error in constructing survey weights was discovered and corrected.

This report is the first assessment of how spending to insure hundreds of thousands of additional people in the Commonwealth is being shared. It finds that the overall distribution of spending on health insurance by employers, individuals, and government remained essentially the same between 2005, one year before passage of the 2006 Massachusetts health reform law, and 2007, one year into the laws implementation.

An eight-page issue brief that analyzes the impacts of health reform on insurance coverage across different population groups in the state. Specifically, it examines differences in insurance coverage by demographic characteristics (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, and gender), health status, employment, and geography.

A 10-page issue brief that assesses the extent to which the insurance provided in Massachusetts under health reform in 2007 protects individuals from financial risk in the event of a major illness or injury.

An easy-to-use guide describing public health insurance options in Massachusetts and a set of flow charts illustrating the eligibility pathways to these programs for low-income people and families, elderly people, and people with disabilities. Also available on the Pathways to Coverage website.

An independent report by health care journalist Irene Wielawski that examines how various interests in Massachusetts politics forged consensus to pass the 2006 health reform law.

This report is an overview of the first year after implementation of the Massachusetts health reform law. It catalogs some of the most significant milestones and achievements and describes how policymakers, stakeholders, and the new Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority and its Board managed a host of potentially contentious issues and decisions.

This report by Sharon Long and Mindy Cohen provides a snapshot of Massachusetts’s adult population prior to the implementation of the 2006 health reform legislation in the state.

Report on the results of a September 2006 public opinion poll of Massachusetts residents on various aspects of the health reform law, prepared by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health for the BCBS of Massachusetts Foundation. 

An examination of how to define affordability relative to the enforcement of the individual mandate requirement of the 2006 health reform law.

BCBS of Massachusetts Foundation report based on a Community Partners' survey on the training, tools, and resources front line staff at hospitals, community health centers, and other community-based organizations would need to implement Massachusetts health reform. (July 2006)

Implementation policy brief.