Federal Health and Human Services Secretary Leavitt came to Boston for a hastily-arranged ceremony to sign his approval of the Massachusets “1115″ MassHealth waiver. (Boston Globe coverage and photo). The waiver approval by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) allows the Commonwealth to begin receiving federal funds for a number of health reform programs.
The immediate impact is the lifting of the enrollment cap in the MassHealth Essential program from 44,000 to 60,000 people. MassHealth Essential covers long-term unemployed adults below the poverty level. Some 10,500 people on the waiting list will be enrolled right away, starting today. The enrollment cap will also increase for the MassHealth HIV program, although there is no current waiting list for this program.
The waiver allows the state to set up a $1.3 billion “Safety Net Care Pool,” consisting of federal and state funds. The federal funds will include $385 million for this year and next year that we had been receiving as managed care supplemental payments. The Safety Net Care Pool will fund CCHIP, the subsidized “Commonwealth Care Health Insurance Program,” that begins on October 1, as well as other programs.
Also approved as part of the waiver is an expansion in the Insurance Partnership (IP) program. The IP program assists small businesses that cover at least half of the health insurance costs of their workers. Employee eligibility for the program will increase from 200% to 300% of the poverty line, effective October 1, 2006.
Approval of the waiver marks a major milestone in health reform implementation. Two interesting sidelights to note:
1. National reporters told us the federal secretary does not normally travel to states to sign an approval in a public ceremony. Leavitt said at the signing that he’s asked about the Massachusetts reform plan everywhere he goes. Probably a combination of national political factors and the attention our reform has generated led to the trip.
2. Yet, curiously the federal HHS press release completely misses the major point of the waiver. The lead is the minor increase in the HIV cap, and then the Essential and IP changes. No mention of the buckets of federal money being invested in our health reform, that will subsidize coverage for some 200,000 people starting in October. The state press release focuses on the $385 million in federal funds.
