And Delivering...

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This is how Massachusetts is preparing to Launch it's ACA Outreach~ All part of Organizing for Action





Bringing the ACA to All Communities in Massachusetts – Launching ACA Outreach Campaign
Posted on July 23, 2013 by HCFA

We want to keep you up-to-date on all the great outreach work that HCFA has been doing. If you hadn’t already heard, we are proud to partner with The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services and 10 local community organizations to launch a major public outreach campaign targeted to individuals and families in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities to explain the benefits coming to Massachusetts through the Affordable Care Act.

This initiative includes public events, focused ethnic media outreach, an advertising campaign, and distribution of educational materials to individuals and families statewide. These efforts will direct consumers to the Massachusetts Consumer Assistance Program (our HelpLine at 1-800-272-4232). We kicked off this campaign in Lawrence the other week with our partners.

As regular readers of our blog know, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, there will be new, affordable insurance options available for those still without insurance in Massachusetts. All insurance plans will have to show the costs and what it is covered in simple language with no fine print. Help is available in several languages online, by phone and in person for consumers to find the plan that best fits their needs. And we are busy getting the word out to implement the Affordable Care Act, especially in ethnic media around the state. Here’s just a few of the great articles from the launch in Portuguese and Spanish:

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The ethnic media campaign is featured by two consumers who will benefit directly from some of the provisions included in the Affordable Care Act. From January 1st 2014, National health reform will help consumers – in between the 300% and 400% percent of the Federal Poverty Level who currently don’t have access to subsidized programs in Massachusetts – pay for health insurance. An estimated of 50,000 people who are in that situation in the state will benefit from these tax credits.

http://blog.hcfama.org/2013/07/23/bringing-the-aca-to-all-communities-in-massachusetts-launching-aca-outreach-campaign/


Some History~

Updated as of January 22, 2013

Establishing the Exchange
On April 12, 2006, former Governor Mitt Romney (R) signed into law comprehensive health reform legislation designed to provide near-universal health coverage for state residents.1 The Massachusetts health reform law became the model for national health reform.

An important component of the law was the creation of the Massachusetts Health Connector, a health insurance exchange that manages several coverage programs. Commonwealth Care provides subsidized coverage for individuals with incomes below 300% of the federal poverty level ($33,510 for an individual and $69,150 for a family of four in 2012) and Commonwealth Choice enables those who are not eligible for Commonwealth Care to shop for and purchase insurance offered by private health plans. In 2010, the Massachusetts Connector launched the Business Express program for businesses with 50 or fewer employees. As of December 2012, the Connector enrolled over 225,000 individuals in coverage—over 190,000 in Commonwealth Care and more than 40,000 in Commonwealth Choice, including approximately 4,750 enrollees in Business Express.2 Enrollment is expected to continue to increase in fiscal year 2013, in part due to reintegration of legal immigrants who became eligible for enrollment in the Connector after a recent Massachusetts Supreme Court decision.

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Next Steps
On December 7, 2012, Massachusetts received conditional approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a state-based exchange.25 Final approval is contingent upon the state demonstrating its ability to perform all required Exchange activities on time and complying with future guidance and regulations.

Multiple state agencies have begun to coordinate and plan for a third ACA-reconciliation bill, currently slated for the 2013 legislative sessions.26 This bill will likely include a compilation of technical changes to previous state health reform legislation and additional substantive changes that reflect policy-decision making by various advisory committees and workgroups.

Additional information about the Massachusetts Connector can be found at: https://www.mahealthconnector.org/

http://kff.org/health-reform/state-profile/state-exchange-profiles-massachusetts/

BOG

****************This is Posted in the Barack Obama Group!****************************