The Role of MassHealth "Budget Neutrality" Requirements in Designing Policies to Expand Health Coverage

This issue brief reviews the concept of budget neutrality and, within its constraints, the options available to maximize federal dollars for coverage of the uninsured.
MassHealth and State Fiscal Health: A New Look at the Effects of Medicaid Spending on State Finances

This report from MMPI and the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center looks at Medicaid spending in relation not only to total public spending, but also to state revenues and overall economic growth. It concludes that, between Fiscal Years 1994 and 2005, Medicaid spending changed very little in relation to the economy as a whole, and therefore was sustainable given the economic growth over that same period. Looking at Medicaid spending with this broader view provides a new context for policy makers as they think about the Medicaid budget, now and in the future.
Massachusetts Health Care Reform Bill Summary

A 10-page summary of Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006, otherwise known as the Massachusetts Health Reform Law.
Ensuring the Success of Massachusetts Health Care Reform: What Is Needed For Front Line Staff?
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)
Setting a Standard of Affordability for Health Insurance Coverage in Massachusetts

An examination of how to define affordability relative to the enforcement of the individual mandate requirement of the 2006 health reform law.
MassHealth and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005: New Proof-of-Citizenship and Asset Rules

The federal Deficit Reduction Act enacted provisions designed to reduce federal Medicaid spending by nearly $5 billion over the next five years. This fact sheet examines two of these provisions in detail and discusses their implications for MassHealth members, administrators and providers.
The MassHealth Waiver: An Update

This issue brief looks at the terms and conditions of the MassHealth Waiver, approved in July 2006, that will run through FY 2008. The July 2006 Waiver approval incorporates the provisions of the health reform law, which enacted some of the changes required in the initial approval of this Waiver renewal, in January 2005. MMPI produced an analysis of the initial approval last year; this brief updates the earlier one to reflect the terms of the Waiver as they now stand.
Getting Ready for Reform: Insurance Coverage and Access to and Use of Care in Massachusetts in Fall 2006

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.
The Massachusetts Health Reform Law: Public Opinion and Perception

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.
The Outlook for Medicaid in Massachusetts

This report examines some of the important issues, opportunities and challenges facing the MassHealth program at the outset of a new Governor's administration including renewal of the the MassHealth waiver, improving the value of MassHealth purchasing, rebalancing long-term care, and providing strong leadership and bolstering staff.