Massachusetts Health Reform : Approaching Universal Coverage

The commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the 50 states in the United States of America, has achieved near universal health coverage of its 6.6 million residents after a landmark reform made health insurance mandatory for all residents in 2006. The reform was only the latest step in a sequence of national and state programs that successively enrolled more people in private and public health insurance programs over a period of four decades. Massachusetts passed chapter 58 of the acts of 2006, the Massachusetts health care reform law, on April 12, 2006, and over a five-year period, more than 400,000 previously uninsured residents were provided with comprehensive health benefits. As of 2012, 98.2 percent of the population is covered, including 99.8 percent of children. Massachusetts has the highest rate of health insurance coverage of any state in the country. The program has widespread popular support, and it served as a model for the design of President Obama's affordable care act, which established a plan for mandatory coverage on a national basis for the first time in the United States. This report will briefly describe the reform and its context, but will focus for purposes of simplicity on the operational details of the mass health program of health insurance for the poor. A discussion of the administration and management of Mass Health can offer a glimpse into the inner workings of all other insurance plans in the commonwealth. Mass health, private insurance, and Commonwealth Care share similar tools, controls, and strategies.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Janett, Robert S.
Format:	Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington DC 2013-01
Subjects:	academic medical centers, access to health care, access to health care services, access to services, acute care, acute care hospitals, administrative law, administrative law judge, administrative management, adolescents, adverse selection, aged, aging, ambulatory services, Ambulatory Surgery, Appropriate treatment, beds, blindness, block grant, block grants, Breast cancer, capita health spending, capitation, care access, case management, certification, cervical cancer, Clinician, clinicians, clinics, community action, community development, community health, community health center, competitive bidding, comprehensive care, cost control, cost sharing, costs of care, counselors, delivery system, dental diseases, Dental Services, determinants of health, determination of eligibility, diabetes, diagnosis, disabilities, doctors, elderly people, eligibility standards, eligible beneficiaries, emergency care, emergency room, emergency rooms, enrollees, entitlement, entitlement program, Families, family income, Family planning, fee-for-service, fee-for-service payment, financial management, financial penalties, financial resources, financial risk, financial risks, Fiscal Policy, group insurance market, health care, Health Care Costs, health care coverage, Health Care Finance, health care financing, health care needs, health care program, health care providers, Health Care Reform, health care sector, health care spending, Health Care System, health centers, health conditions, health cost, Health costs, Health Coverage, health education, health expenditure, health expenditures, health financing, health financing scheme, Health Indicators, Health information, health insurance, health insurance coverage, health insurance plans, health insurance scheme, health insurance schemes, health outcomes, health plan, health plans, Health Policy, health programs, Health Reform, Health reforms, health screening, health sector, Health Services, health spending, health status, Health System, health systems, health workers, healthcare, Healthcare Providers, healthcare services, HIV/AIDS, Home Care, Home Health Care, hospice, hospice care, hospital admission, hospital admissions, Hospital Care, hospital services, hospital systems, hospital utilization, hospitalization, hospitals, hypertension, immigrants, incentive payments, income, income ceiling, income countries, Infants, informal sector, inpatient care, inpatient hospital, Insurance, insurance companies, Insurance Plan, insurance plans, insurance premiums, intervention, judicial system, laws, managed care, managed care plans, marketing, Medicaid, Medicaid coverage, Medicaid payments, Medical Association, Medical associations, medical care, medical costs, medical education, medical equipment, medical expenses, medical records, Medicare, Medicare beneficiaries, Mental Health, mental illness, Moral Hazard, national health, national health expenditures, nurses, nursing, Nursing Home Care, nursing homes, oral health, outpatient care, outpatient hospital services, outpatient services, patient, patient education, patient satisfaction, patients, Physician, physicians, pregnancy, pregnant women, Prescription Drugs, primary care, primary care doctors, Primary Care Physician, private health insurance, private hospitals, private insurance, Private insurers, private sector, Prosthetic devices, Provider incentives, provider payment, provision of care, provision of services, psychologists, psychosocial support, public costs, Public Health, public health insurance, public hospitals, public insurance, public providers, quality of care, refugees, Rehabilitation, screening, Social Security, Social Security benefits, Social workers, surgery, unemployment, use of health care services, victims, violence, visits, workers,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13292
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