Yesterday, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation released a policy brief (PDF) on the essential continuum of work done by statewide outreach grantees, who receive funding from the Foundation and the state. Outreach workers are on the front line to help individuals navigate the complex health care system. There is now more demand than ever for assistance, with 152 types of public insurance programs available, and an individual mandate requiring Massachusetts residents to have health insurance coverage if affordable coverage is available. As this brief outlines, this work goes well beyond outreach and enrollment.
As outlined in the Foundation’s brief, outreach workers perform a variety of essential services including:
- Identifying uninsured individuals
- Establishing affordability
- Assisting in enrollment, and maintaining enrollment
- Accessing to care and services
- Complying with the individual mandate
- Ensuring continuity of coverage
Today the Boston Globe published an editorial urging the Patrick administration to maintain funding for outreach grantees, who help ensure continuity of care for individuals throughout the complex redetermination process. Much of health reform’s success – and one of the reasons Massachusetts has the lowest rate of uninsurance in the country – can be attributed to the coordinated and skilled outreach work occurring across the state. The services grantees provide are especially important in a time of economic uncertainty, when Massachusetts residents need to know that when all else fails they can count on maintaining health coverage.
The statewide system of outreach work is a proven strategy to not only increase access, ensure continuity of care, and guide consumers through redeterminations and new requirements such as the individual mandate and minimum creditable coverage. It is a core component of the infrastructure of health reform and merits sustained support by the administration in FY09 and beyond.
Suzanne Curry
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