Enrollment and Disenrollment in Subsidized Health Insurance: Lessons Learned in Massachusetts

According to this report, more than 97 percent of the Massachusetts population has health insurance as a result of the new programs with expanded eligibility included in the state’s 2006 healthcare reform law and from a series of concerted outreach and enrollment efforts. Despite this high-level of coverage among the general population, many behavioral health experts identified a disproportionately lower rate of coverage among individuals presenting for community behavioral health services in Massachusetts. This led the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to seek to confirm these allegations, explore possible causes, and identify strategies for maximizing coverage among individuals with behavioral health conditions in Massachusetts and across the country. This report is based on information drawn from structured discussions and focus groups performed in July of 2011 under the SAMHSA Financing Center of Excellence contract.

Read the MaxEnroll report here.