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The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation has awarded $1.25 million in grants to 11 coalitions around the Commonwealth to address health care disparities. Each coalition will receive $113,636.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation has awarded $1,205,000 in grants to 24 community organizations in Massachusetts whose missions are dedicated to promoting the health care needs of uninsured and low-income residents. The grants range from $40,000 to $75,000 per year, and represent the first of two years of funding.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation

selects class for 2010-2011

Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership

News Release

Contact: Lindsey Tucker

617.246.5238

[email protected]

BOSTON – Sixteen emerging leaders in health care access have been named to the sixth class of the Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership (MICHL). MICHL is designed to help those with leadership potential increase their personal impact and enhance their health organization’s influence in the health care system. The 18-day educational program takes place over the course of nine months, offering a highly experiential curriculum, with classroom work, peer-to-peer exchanges and collaborative learning. During the program, students develop and implement a project that addresses a health care issue impacting the uninsured and low-income people in Massachusetts.

The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will direct billions of new federal dollars into the Massachusetts health care system and expand public coverage to reach more of the state's residents, according to a report released today by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. The law also has the potential to help the state make progress toward its cost containment and quality of care goals by providing funding opportunities for innovative pilot programs aimed at improving quality and affordability.

The rate of uninsured, working-age adults in Massachusetts has remained at record low levels despite high unemployment and a severe economic downturn. Four years after the state began implementing its groundbreaking health care reform law, gains in residents' access to needed care have also been maintained, and racial and ethnic disparities in coverage have been eliminated. Furthermore, 67 percent of working-aged adults support health reform, which is virtually the same level of public support found shortly after the law was enacted.