Pandemic hasn’t rocked health coverage boat
Photo | Grant Welker
UMass Memorial Medical Center's University Campus in Worcester
Despite dramatic leaps in unemployment claims during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage in employer-sponsored health insurance did not experience a correspondingly high decline, according to a new state report.
The Center for Health Information and Analysis on Thursday released a report on health insurance enrollment in Massachusetts from March through June, finding that coverage "remained relatively stable" during that period with more than 6.4 million state residents covered through private insurance plans, MassHealth or Medicare.
Medicare coverage dropped slightly between March and June, according to the report, while the number of people with primary MassHealth coverage rose by 4.3 percent, or about 50,000 people. Part of the MassHealth growth, CHIA said, can be attributed to the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act which directed state Medicaid programs to continue coverage for all beneficiaries enrolled on or after March 18.
More than 4 million Massachusetts residents get their health insurance through private commercial plans, and the report said such coverage declined by 1 percent between March and June, a drop "primarily driven by employer-sponsored insurance."
CHIA said several factors could explain the "apparent disconnect" between skyrocketing unemployment claims and a smaller change in the rate of employer-sponsored insurance coverage. Not all people who claimed unemployment benefits had health insurance through their jobs, some who were furloughed maintained their insurance, and others got coverage through a family member's plan or signed up for insurance through COBRA.
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