Medicare

Presently, two options exist for covering medical services for uninsured, low income children. The first is to enroll eligible children into comprehensive insurance programs such as Los Angeles Healthy Kids, which provides coverage for children ineligible for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families with family incomes below 300% FPL. The second option is through indigent care services delivered by county-operated safety net clinics that provide care to all people regardless of their ability to pay. This study examines the impact of Healthy Kids since its inception and compares it to utilization of pediatric care visits paid for through county indigent care programs. Los Angeles: University of Southern California. November 2008.

The Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act will affect seniors in a number of ways. They will benefit from reductions in cost sharing for prescription drugs and for preventive services. There will however be reductions in current benefits some seniors now gain from Medicare Advantage plans and increases in premiums for high income people. Provider payment rate cuts if extended for several years could have implications for access to care. Many new provisions that will affect payment and delivery system reforms and most likely benefit seniors but could also potentially harm access to care.

The Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (MHIS) collects information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. It is funded by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) and is conducted by the Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS). This report presents the detail tabulations from the 2009 MHIS on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care in Massachusetts.

Although Massachusetts' 2006 health reform initiative led to significant gains in insurance coverage and improvements in access to health care, barriers to obtaining care still exist for some Massachusetts residents, including difficulties finding providers who will see them and high health care costs. This policy brief uses the 2008 and 2009 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (MHIS) to examine reported difficulties in obtaining health care for insured residents in the state, focusing on difficulties related to access to providers and unmet need for care because of health care costs.

The Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (MHIS) collects information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. It is funded by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) and is conducted by the Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS). This report examines health care access and use in 2008 and 2009 in Massachusetts.