Report lays out path to universal health insurance coverage

By Amy Lambiaso

State House News Service



New tax credits and small-business subsidies are among the reforms recommended by one of the state's largest health insurers in an effort to establish universal health care in Massachusetts.



Achieving universal coverage within the next four years likely would require between $700 million and $900 million in new spending, according to a final report issued late last week by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation Roadmap to Coverage project. Some of that money would come from the federal government, which shares health care costs with the state under the national Medicaid program. But the changes, according to the report, would reap roughly $1.5 billion a year in direct economic and social benefits.



The report assumes there are now about 532,000 residents without health insurance, although recent census studies have pegged that number somewhat higher.



The reforms, or "building blocks" as they are outlined in the report, closely mirror proposals now pending on Beacon Hill to reduce the number of uninsured Massachusetts residents. The Urban Institute compiled research for the report, which has been released in phases, along with state public policy plans.