Healthcare Financial News

In the first year after Massachusetts implemented its landmark coverage expansion and health reforms, the uninsurance rate among adults in the state dropped by almost half, from 13 percent to 7.1 percent, according to a new Urban Institute study published June 3 as a Health Affairs web exclusive.

The study also shows that access to care for low-income Massachusetts adults has increased, and the share of adults with high out-of-pocket healthcare costs and problems paying medical bills has dropped. Study author Sharon Long, a principal research associate at Urban, found no evidence that the Bay State’s expansion of publicly subsidized coverage has “crowded out” employer-sponsored coverage.

Long’s findings are based on two rounds of telephone interviews with randomly selected Massachusetts adults (ages 18-64), in fall 2006 and fall 2007. Her study report is one of two articles on the Massachusetts experience appearing June 3 on the Health Affairs web site. In the other paper, John McDonough and coauthors chart the progress of the reforms and the challenges that remain.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt on June 3 announced that the department has made available nearly $1.1 billion to continue assisting public health departments, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations to strengthen their ability to respond to public health and medical emergencies as a result of a terrorism attack or naturally occurring event.

The HHS funding is awarded via two separate but interrelated cooperative agreements. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is providing $704.8 million in funding to health departments in states, territories, and metro areas of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles County, and Washington, D.C., through the Public Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative agreement. The HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response is also awarding $398 million through the Hospital Preparedness Program.

The funds are intended to upgrade public health departments’ preparedness and response to all public health emergencies, improve the readiness of hospitals and other healthcare organizations, and strengthen medical surge capability across the nation. Read the press release.