Browse by Topic: Medicaid

SFY2021 Budget for MassHealth and Other Health Reform Programs

This budget brief highlights the state fiscal year (SFY) 2021 budget – which ran from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 – for MassHealth and other health reform programs. The SFY21 budget was delayed by six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic challenges and fiscal uncertainty. Included within the budget was $18.9 billion designated for health care coverage programs and related operational expenses.

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A Primer on the Dual Eligible Population in Massachusetts

Of the more than 1.8 million people enrolled in MassHealth, Massachusetts’ Medicaid program, one in five are dually eligible and receive health care coverage through two distinct payers – Medicare and MassHealth. This educational primer was developed to build a deeper understanding of the dual eligible population in Massachusetts. It illustrates the diversity of dual eligible individuals’ clinical and functional needs, service utilization, and spending patterns.

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UPDATED! MassHealth and ConnectorCare Enrollment Tracker

This resource highlights the most recent monthly enrollment data available for MassHealth and ConnectorCare — the two most prominent sources of publicly financed health insurance in Massachusetts. The compiled data and highlighted trends described in this resource are intended to help policymakers, health care stakeholders, and others track how enrollment in these programs has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began affecting public health and the economy of the Commonwealth. This resource will be updated regularly with the latest enrollment data as it becomes available.

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Understanding Legal Challenges to the Affordable Care Act: A Brief Review of Key Issues

This educational brief describes the key elements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and provides an overview of California v. Texas, a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court that seeks to overturn the ACA. Also included in this brief is a discussion of recent relevant case history and how the arguments in California v. Texas build upon prior legal challenges to the ACA.

Potential Coverage and Federal Funding Losses for Massachusetts if California v. Texas Ultimately Overturns the Affordable Care Act

California v. Texas, a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, seeks to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The court is expected to begin hearing arguments on this case on November 10, 2020. A final ruling that overturns the ACA would have widespread implications, affecting every state in the nation.

MassHealth: The Basics – Facts and Trends (October 2020)

This UPDATED (October 2020) edition of the MassHealth: The Basics chart pack provides new data on MassHealth enrollment and spending from the most recent state fiscal years available, as well as a high-level overview and status update on the state’s delivery system reform efforts. The 2020 chart pack features a summary of the many temporary policy and programmatic changes that MassHealth quickly implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Final Public Charge Admissibility Rule: Implications for Massachusetts

The revised federal public charge rule – which was finalized in August 2019 and took effect in Massachusetts in February 2020 – makes it harder for certain low- and moderate-income immigrants to obtain green cards or visas if they have applied for or enrolled in public benefits such as MassHealth or the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). This report describes the expected effects of the revised federal public charge rule on MassHealth and SNAP enrollment, and its downstream effects on the health of Massachusetts residents, health care providers, and the state’s economy.

What to Know About ACOs: The Latest on MassHealth Accountable Care Organizations

This brief builds upon a July 2018 publication, What to Know About ACOs: An Introduction to Accountable Care Organizations, which was developed as a resource for stakeholders (i.e., providers, health care administrators, and policymakers) to help explain the key elements of MassHealth ACOs, including the three types of ACOs, who they serve, and the services they provide.

MassHealth: The Basics – Facts and Trends (July 2019)

This UPDATED (July 2019) edition of the MassHealth: The Basics chart pack provides new data on MassHealth enrollment and spending from the most recent state fiscal years available, as well as a high-level overview and status update on the state’s delivery system reform efforts. The 2019 chart pack features a summary of the program’s impacts on access to care and health outcomes and new data highlighting the role of MassHealth in supporting the low-income workforce.

What is the Actual State Cost of MassHealth in 2019?

Among state budget items, MassHealth is well known as one of the largest spending categories, while its role as a significant source of federal revenue is often overlooked. This brief takes a look beyond the budget totals to help stakeholders better understand the actual state cost of MassHealth when factoring in the state and federal partnership that finances this program. In fiscal year (FY) 2019, the state projects it will spend approximately $16.7 billion on MassHealth. This total (or “gross” amount) is approximately 36 percent of total estimated state spending for FY 2019.

Faces of MassHealth: Portrait of a Diverse Population

This collection of materials goes beyond the topline statistics often used to characterize those served by MassHealth in order to paint a richer, more meaningful picture of the more than one in four Massachusetts residents enrolled in the program. MassHealth serves our most vulnerable residents across their life spans from infants and children with special needs who gain access to comprehensive health care and support services required to reach their full potential, to the elderly and those living with disabilities who receive community based care that helps them remain in their homes.

2018 Massachusetts Health Reform Survey

This collection of materials is the latest in a series by the Urban Institute summarizing the findings from the 2018 Massachusetts Health Reform Survey (MHRS). The Foundation began conducting the MHRS in fall 2006 to support the evaluation of Massachusetts’ 2006 health care reform bill. The survey has been fielded periodically since 2006 – most recently in spring 2018 – to monitor key measures pertaining to health insurance coverage and health care access and affordability among non-elderly adults (ages 19-64) in Massachusetts.