Access to medical care and insurance in Massachusetts Essay

Since the implementation of Massachusetts Healthcare Reform (MHR), and a survey conducted in 2008 by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and The Boston Globe, about more than 90% of individuals reported of having a primary care physician (Top Ten Facts). Additionally, approximately 81% of Hispanics reported to have a primary care physician in 2010, up from 75% in 2004 (Key Indicators). In contrast, in 2007, 20% of Americans as a whole indicated not getting or delaying needed medical care. Resultantly, the MHR has facilitated medical care treatment and access to care easy for patients throughout the state.
Massachusetts Healthcare Reform (MHR) substantially decreased the proportion of uninsured population and in 2010 there was 94.2% coverage of the insurance by adults who were under the age 65, therefore by all accounts the goals of insurance expansion were reached (McCormick, Sayah, Lokko, Woolhandler, & Nardin, 2012) (808, 2013). With the introduction of MHR, it has been noticed that more employers are offering their employees' health insurance, which is surprisingly opposite to the national trend. As of 2010, 77% of Massachusetts employers offered insurance as opposed to 69% in 2001 (Top Ten Facts).
In another study (McCormick, Sayah, Lokko, Woolhandler, & Nardin, 2012), which compared the results of access to care and insurance between Massachusetts and New England, it was inferred that in Massachusetts the probability of health coverage rose from 94.7% in 2006 to 97.7% in 2008, whereas in New England the coverage remained around 92%. Furthermore, this study also finds that in Massachusetts, there were reduced financial barriers in obtaining health care for working-age adults. Also, another study by (Steinbrook, 2008) indicated that MHR has decreased the number of uninsured population substantially along with a strong public and political support. Over and above that, previous data suggests that access to care has been improved, especially among low-income adults. The number of unnecessary emergency department visits and in-ward stays have also reduced which signifies improvements in health care delivery (Kaiser, 2012). With the expansion of insurance net, the access to health care particularly in deprived communities has surged up. Safety net providers such as safety net hospitals and community health centers experienced a 12% rise in patient volume from 2009 to 2010 and approximately 100,000 more visits to the aforementioned centers during that tenure. Patient visits to those centers increased by 50,000 between 2008 and 2010.
The number of residents covered by Masshealth and Commonwealth Care increased by 122,000 during the first year of the act. Masshealth covers about one out of every six Massachusetts residents, and 45 percent of the Masshealth beneficiaries are children. From the end of June 2006 to the end of March 2007, total Masshealth enrollees increased by 53000. Another study found that access to personal care physicians increased after the enactment of the act, along with these, there was a reduction in the likelihood of forgoing care because of cost and there was improved access to personal physician (Pande, Ross-Degnan, Zaslavsky, & Salomon, 2011).