New England Public Radio

Health Chief: Mass. Insurance Plan Remains Viable Despite Trump’s ACA Pledge

The head of the Massachusetts’ Health Connector said it’s too early to tell how Donald Trump’s election will affect the state’s health insurance marketplace. But he said nearly twice as many people have signed up for coverage during this year’s open enrollment period than last year.

Louis Gutierrez said there’s uncertainty given the President-elect’s campaign promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which is based on Massachusetts’ universal health care plan.  But he’s confident the Bay State’s plan will remain viable.

“There will be substantial changes at the national level, but Massachusetts has had ten years of commitment to broad, affordable health insurance. And I don’t see that commitment getting rolled back,” Gutierrez said Wednesday.

Gutierrez was in Springfield to help launch an expanded multi-lingual outreach campaign targeting communities with higher rates of uninsured residents. He said about 6 percent of Springfield residents lack health insurance, nearly double the statewide rate.

The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill

If the 2015-2016 legislative agenda were a bonfire, it’s now burning brightly, with a thick bed of embers, and Rep. Brian Dempsey is getting ready to hoist an oversized log onto the blaze. A session impaired out of the gate by the fierce early 2015 winter caught fire with last year’s major MBTA reform law and lawmakers recently fed the flames first with a law targeting opioid addiction and then with a new driving law statute to assist ex-offenders.

On deck is a law to spark the solar energy industry, with legislation to that end receiving Gov. Charlie Baker’s signature on Monday at a State House event with legislative leaders. With both branches hosting formal sessions on Wednesday, lawmakers may also send the governor a routine bill allocating $200 million for annual local road and bridge repairs, a cut from $300 million awarded by the state in 2015.

The lone conference committee still trying to reach compromise is focused on access to public records, with proponents hopeful for a resolution that will shine a light on more records and critics still trying to water that bill down.

Dempsey chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which plans to unveil details Wednesday of its fiscal 2017 budget bill. Gov. Baker proposed a $39.55 billion budget bill (H 2) that calls for a 3.5 percent spending increase.

Ten years ago Tuesday, Gov. Mitt Romney, surrounded by Democrats, signed what came to be known as RomneyCare, a universal health care access law that became a model for the federal Affordable Care Act.

Click on the audio player above to hear State House News Service reporter Matt Murphy discuss Beacon Hill politics with NEPR’s Henry Epp.

Health Connector Site Is Ready This Time, Say Mass. Officials

The once problem-riddled Massachusetts Health Connector website is ready for the enrollment period that starts this Saturday, according to spokesperson Jason Lefferts. An earlier version of the site failed and the state acquired a new one. All together, Lefferts says, the process cost about $255 million, much of it paid by the federal government.

“We’ve been testing the site, it’s been testing well. We know that we have a system that’s going to work, we’ve seen it work in other states. This is a system that’s worked in Kentucky and New York, and we’re bringing it here,” says Lefferts. “So we are confident that starting Saturday, people can go online and sign up for health insurance.”

Anyone who bought coverage on the Connector in the past year, or is now in temporary coverage, will need to submit a new application. Otherwise, they’ll lose their insurance. Lefferts says the state is reaching out to all those affected through mail and phone calls.

New England Public Radio’s Henry Epp and Sam Hudzik contributed to this report.

Mass. Health Connector Director Called To Testify Before Congress

Jean Yang, the head of Massachusetts’ health insurance exchange, has been called to testify before a Congressional committee on Thursday, along with five other directors of state exchanges.

The Republican-controlled subcommittee is examining the security and financial stability of state health insurance websites, set up under the Affordable Care Act. Lawmakers have questioned the Massachusetts Health Connector’s security protocols, concerned that users of the site are at risk of identity theft.

Health Connector spokesman Jason Lefferts says security has been a top priority.

“The federal government had in place significant standards and protocols for us to meet, we met all those standards, and to this point, we haven’t had any problems with our system,” says Lefferts.

The Connector site has experienced other technical glitches, leaving many applicants with temporary health care coverage. Officials have said the Massachusetts website will be fully functional by the next open enrollment period, which begins in November.

Other testifiers include exchange leaders from California, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and Hawaii.

State House News Service contributed to this report.

Mass, Vermont Halt Payment to Health Care Website Developer

Massachusetts and Vermont are withholding payments and considering legal options against the contractor that set up the states’ problem-plagued health insurance websites. And it’s the same contractor that caused problems for the Federal Government. 

Trouble with the Massachusetts Health Connector’s web site has been ongoing. Connector spokesperson Jason Lefferts says the company– CGI–received a 69-million-dollar contract for building the new website. And so far has done such a poor job that the state says it  will not make any further payments  until more progress is made. Lefferts says there are a series of milestones connected to payment. 

“There’s a series of milestones on the project and they get paid when those milestones are delivered. There was a schedule in the contract and they’ve fallen behind that schedule, so payment on those those parts of the project won’t be made until those portions are delivered.”, Lefferts says. 

Lefferts says residents who face a December 31st deadline to register still have time. He says those who can’t due to technical reasons will likely be given temporary health care. In Vermont, state officials  say they are withholding more than 5-million-dollars in payments to CGI for missed deadlines. A CGI spokeswoman says the company is working to fix state websites and has already improved performance. 

 
 

President in Boston to Address Health Overhaul’s Slow Start

In a visit to Boston Wedensday afternoon, President Barack Obama will cite the slow start of the Massachusetts health care system to keep expectations low for early sign-ups for his own overhaul.

And he’ll point to the bipartisan effort to get the program launched in Massachusetts to encourage his opponents to stop rooting for his law’s failure.

The president will  speaking about the law at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall, where Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney was joined by the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy to sign the state’s 2006 health care overhaul bill.

The White House said Obama would point to Massachusetts’ sluggish start while visiting Boston. Only 123 paying consumers signed up the first month of the Massachusetts law, with 36,000 enrolling by the time penalties for failing to have insurance kicked in.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.