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CHIA Publishes Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey Results

CHIA Publishes Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey Results

DATE: July 20, 2022

The Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) today published summary results from the 2021 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (MHIS). The MHIS is a biennial population-based survey that provides valuable information on health insurance coverage, health care access and use, and health care affordability for Massachusetts residents. While Massachusetts residents continue to have a high rate of insurance coverage, access and affordability issues persist across all groups regardless of age, gender, race, health status, or family income.

The MHIS survey results provide a detailed look at the issues impacting Massachusetts residents.    In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 MHIS included new questions to provide data on the impacts of the pandemic on residents’ ability to obtain timely and affordable health care, as well as changes in employment, which may affect health insurance coverage, health risk, and ability to pay for health care.

Key Findings:

  • The 2021 uninsurance rate in Massachusetts was 2.4%, compared to the national rate of 9.2%.

  • Among residents visiting the emergency department (ED) in the past 12 months, over a third (35%) sought care for a non-emergency condition in their most recent ED visit.

  • Two in five residents (41%) said that they had difficulties accessing health care for reasons related to COVID-19 in the past 12 months.

  • Two in five residents (41%) said that they and their families experienced health care affordability issues in the past 12 months, including 60% of residents with moderate family income between 139 and 299% of the Federal Poverty Level.

  • Over one in four residents reported that their families had unmet health care need due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Hispanic residents were nearly 1.5 times more likely to report that their families experienced this unmet need compared to White residents (37% vs. 26%). 

 

The 2021 MHIS was fielded from July through December 2021. This report is also accompanied by a databook, a survey methods report, and the survey questionnaire.