Behind The Sound Bite: Health Insurance Rates
At a recent event in Grafton, David Morales, commissioner of the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP), discussed how the state is reconciling the provisions of the state’s 2006 health care reform with those of the federal health care reform passed last year. In listing the performance of the state law, Morales said that 97 to 98 percent of Massachusetts residents now have health insurance compared to the already-impressive 93 percent covered prior to the law’s passage. We wanted to know if Morales had his numbers straight, and according to statewide health care surveys mandated by state law, Morales wasn’t giving his employer quite enough credit.
What did Massachusetts Health Reform do?
The Massachusetts Health Care Insurance Reform Law had two main provisions. The individual mandate requires residents to have health insurance or face financial penalties. The law also created the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority where people can purchase private insurance plans that the state deems affordable.
What effect has the 2006 law had?
According to a study released in December by the DHCFP and conducted by the Urban Institute, 98.1 percent of state residents had health care coverage as of June of 2010.But the climb to that level of coverage has been slightly more impressive than Morales stated. The Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey 2006-2009 states that 87.5 percent of non-elderly residents were covered just prior to the law’s implementation. So coverage in the state climbed 10.6 percentage points in four years rather than the 5 percentage points cited by Morales.
How accurate are health insurance surveys?
There are a number of state and federal surveys that estimate insurance rates. Unfortunately, they all tend to come out with different figures. For example, six different surveys for 2006 Massachusetts insurance rates pegged the uninsured rate for people ages 18 to 64 anywhere from 8.4 percent to 13.6 percent.
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