Mass. Insured Struggling With Health Care Access, Costs | State House News Service

DATE: June 27, 2024

Health insurance is mandatory in Massachusetts and the latest state-sponsored snapshot, based on findings collected from April through August 2023, indicate that 98.3 percent of residents reported having insurance.

The Center for Health Information and Analysis findings also showed uninsured residents in Massachusetts were disproportionately adults between 19 and 64 years old, Hispanic residents, and residents with a family income below 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

Released on Thursday, the biennial report found that just over 41 percent of residents reported that they or their families had an issue affording health care, and 41 percent of residents also reported difficulties accessing health care.

Also, 15 percent of Massachusetts residents reported paying for their most recent mental health care entirely out-of-pocket, with the most frequently reported reason for doing so being that providers do not accept any health insurance (36.6 percent) or their preferred provider did not accept their insurance plan (26.8 percent).

On Beacon Hill, the House and Senate are advancing a series of unrelated health care bills, but legislative leaders haven't found common ground on a host of major issues affecting patients, provider and insurers with five weeks remaining for formal sessions this year. 

By Michael P. Norton, State House News Service, Thursday, June 27, 2024