Massachusetts Universal Healthcare Success

Sept 14,2009 Excerpt from NAHU Daily Newsletter

Only four percent remain uninsured since Massachusetts' 2006 health reform initiative began.
Modern Healthcare (9/14, Rhea, subscription required) reports, "Massachusetts' three-year-old healthcare reform effort has helped the state achieve near universal coverage with just 4 percent of state residents 18 to 64 years old remaining uninsured," compared to a national average of "20-percent uninsured," according to a study sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "Adults with incomes less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level -- $10,991 for a single person -- experienced the greatest gain in coverage" and saw its "uninsured rate drop to 8 percent from 24 percent." At the same time, "employer-sponsored insurance coverage also continued to grow with more than 70 percent of nonelderly" covered through employers. Notably, the study also found that "72 percent of state residents" were satisfied with the progress made under the Massachusetts' plan.