Recent Changes in Health Policy for Low-Income People in Massachusetts

Major expansions of public coverage for
low-income people have dominated
Massachusetts’s health policy since the
mid-1990s. The state in 1997 expanded
Medicaid enrollment by almost a third.
The expansions, along with high rates of
employer-sponsored insurance, have dramatically
reduced uninsurance. Only 6 percent
of residents lacked coverage in 2000,
under 3 percent for children. The state has
also increased pharmaceutical coverage for
seniors; continued to expand community
services in mental health, developmental
disabilities, and long-term care; dealt with
the insolvency of the state’s largest health
maintenance organization (HMO) that also
owns the largest Medicaid HMO; and convened
a high-level, bipartisan task force to
systematically reconsider state health
policies.


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