Massachusetts health insurance

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status report:
Massachusetts state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Massachusetts state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Massachusetts officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Our
Pick

No (10)

• Michael Capuano
• Barney Frank
• William Keating

• Stephen Lynch
• Edward Markey
• James McGovern

• Richard Neal
• John Olver
• John Tierney

• Niki Tsongas

how healthy is living in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts has moved up one spot and is now ranked the 2nd healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• One fairly obvious plus for Massachusetts is the fact that it is ranked first in the nation for uninsured residents. It's not that surprising considering Massachusetts is one of only a handful of guaranteed issue states.
• Massachusetts is in the Top 10 states for 12 of the measures (22 total) that are used to determine a state's rank.
• It has a low percentage of population without insurance (5 percent, down from last year's 5.4 percent), a low occupational fatalities rate (3.0 deaths per 100,000 workers), a high availability of primary care physicians (191.3 physicians per 100,000 individuals of the population), and a relatively low geographic disparity (only 6.3 percent).
• It also shows both low rates of infant mortality – 4.8 deaths per 1,000 live births – and high rates of immunization coverage – 93.4 percent of 19- to 35-month-olds received their necessary immunizations.
• In addition, smoking declined in Massachusetts over the past five years from 18.5 percent of the population to 14.9 percent.

The bad news:

• Massachusetts' challenges this year include a high percentage of binge drinking in the population and a high rate of preventable hospitalizations.
• Over the past five years, the rate of children in poverty has climbed from 10.1 percent of the population under the age of 18 to 16.7 percent.
• Obesity has increased in Massachusetts from 10.1 percent to 21.8 percent of the population over the past ten years.

Massachusetts' best and worst category rankings:

• Uninsured population – 1st
• Primary care physicians – 1st
• Infant mortality – 1st
• Violent crime (457 offenses per 100,000 population) – 34th
• Preventable hospitalizations – 36th
• Prevalence of binge drinking (17.6 percent) – 39th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Massachusetts.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Massachusetts health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Massachusetts here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Massachusetts, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does Massachusetts have a health insurance high risk pool?

No, Massachusetts does not offer its own risk pool for its citizens who are medically uninsurable.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Massachusetts started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Massachusetts's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find health insurance in Massachusetts

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Massachusetts and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Massachusetts.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Massachusetts health insurance guide

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Massachusetts.

Health insurance plan report cards for Massachusetts

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Massachusetts health insurance plan report cards.

Massachusetts government health insurance resources

State-provided info on health insurance – from the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation. Includes info on the Massachusetts Health Care Reform law, under which all citizens 18 and over are required to purchase insurance.

MassHealth Services – MassHealth pays for health care for certain low- and medium-income people living in the state, including a program for individuals who are HIV positive. MassHealth also manages the Insurance Partnership for small businesses, the Children's Medical Security Plan, Healthy Start, and the Special Kids/Special Care Pilot Program, cosponsored with the Department of Social Services.

Children's Medical Security Plan – for children under the age of 19 who are Massachusetts residents at any income level, who do not qualify for MassHealth (except MassHealth Limited), and who are uninsured.