Massachusetts health reform

Revisiting the Land of the Individual Mandate

[This new commentary was just published by the Milbank Quarterly.]

The years 2013 through 2016 were excruciating for the Massachusetts Health Connector. In 2013, the Connector was among the nation’s most troubled federal/state health insurance exchanges, as it endured an epic collapse of its new website to help consumers purchase individual health insurance. Since then, it has taken a step-by-step and low-key “no news is good news” approach to rebuilding trust and credibility with its 252,000 clients.

Now the silent period is ending. In 2006, Massachusetts was the first and only state to enact an individual health insurance mandate, the essential model for the federal individual mandate included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 and implemented in 2014. In last December’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, President Trump and Congress neutered the ACA mandate by reducing the financial penalty to 0. Despite widespread reports to the contrary, the mandate was not repealed, and the law, with its mandatory reporting requirements, remains on the books.

Thus, Massachusetts now returns to the spotlight as the nation prepares to examine the impact of the federal action, testing 1 state’s experience against that of the other 49. In 2015, the last year for which tax data is publicly available, only 3% of adult tax filers in Massachusetts reported not having insurance meeting state standards, corroborating other data sources indicating that it has the lowest rate of uninsurance in any state (the most recent US Census data shows Massachusetts at 97.5% coverage). Depending on an uninsured person’s household income, the monetary penalty ranges between $21 and $96 for each month without coverage. As of early February, at least 9 other Democratic-leaning states are considering adopting a similar mandate. Continue reading “Revisiting the Land of the Individual Mandate”

Behind the Turnaround at the MA Health Connector

(This article was just published in the Spring Issue of Commonwealth magazine.)

It’s 11:59 PM on October 31, 2015, about 20 nervous state officials and contractors hunched around computer terminals in a non-descript office in the Charles F. Hurley Building near Beacon Hill. Among them was Louis Gutierrez, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector, appointed the previous February by newly inaugurated Gov. Charlie Baker. The launch of the third open enrollment since the 2013 implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) was less than a minute away with lots on the line. Would months of hard preparation avoid another website calamity that could jeopardize health insurance for hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents.

As the website opened at midnight and kept humming without a hitch throughout the night and following days, sighs of relief were heard across the Commonwealth as a major governmental embarrassment was averted. By early February 2016, 201,000 state

residents had successfully enrolled in plans for 2016, including 36,000 new members. Today, the Connector is a marquee success for the still-youngish Baker administration — an ironic twist for a Republican governor who was never a fan of the ACA, Barack Obama’s marquee presidential achievement. Continue reading “Behind the Turnaround at the MA Health Connector”

Creating Better Affordability in the Affordable Care Act

Every day, so many reports emerge about aspects of ObamaCare/ACA that it’s difficult to decide which ones to note. Here’s one I note today from the Urban Institute – “After King v. Burwell: Next Steps for the Affordable Care Act” written by the always perceptive Linda Blumberg and John Holahan.

The report’s basic and important message is this: though it has vastly increased health insurance security and affordability for millions of vulnerable Americans, the Affordable Care Act is not affordable enough. Knowing what we know now, the law needs better affordability for millions of Americans who need access to subsidized insurance that includes more affordable premiums and stronger cost sharing protections:

“The premium and cost-sharing structures established under the law were delineated with the intention of meeting specific budget targets that now seem overly constraining. As a result, several problems occurred. Premium tax credits are substantial, but they are still inadequate for many individuals and families, given their incomes. Similarly, many individuals with modest incomes may struggle to afford the Level of cost-sharing required in the plans for which the premium tax credits are pegged. Premium tax credits are tied to a product with cost-sharing requirements that significantly exceed the typical large employer-sponsored plan. In particular, older individuals with incomes just above the current tax credit eligibility range face high premiums relative to their incomes, and because they tend to use more medical care than do their younger counterparts, they face a total bill for premiums plus out-of-pocket spending that can be very high.”

Continue reading “Creating Better Affordability in the Affordable Care Act”