,Getting Ready for Reform: Insurance Coverage and Access to and Use of Care in Massachusetts in Fall of 2006

Getting Ready for Reform: Insurance Coverage and Access to and Use of Care in Massachusetts in Fall of 2006


 

Publication Date: August 2007

Publisher: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Author(s): M. Cohen; S. Long

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

Using survey responses collected in the fall of 2006, this report provides a detailed overview of health insurance coverage in Massachusetts prior to the implementation of near-universal health coverage for state residents.

International Communications Research surveyed more than 3,000 adults about access to coverage, quality of coverage and the financial burden of health care costs. The survey focused on adults 18 to 65 years of age, as well as those targeted by specific elements of the state's reform efforts, including uninsured adults and adults with family income less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), between 100 percent and 300 percent FPL, and between 300 percent and 500 percent FPL.

The Urban Institute prepared a report of these findings, Getting Ready for Reform: Insurance Coverage and Access to and Use of Care in Massachusetts in Fall of 2006.
Findings highlight the gaps in care faced by uninsured adults, as well as the high cost of care and gaps in coverage faced by many of those with private coverage (particularly low- and moderate-income adults and those with non-group coverage).

The Getting Ready for Reform report was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts and the Commonwealth Fund.