A new study finds that up to 200,000 Massachusetts residents could lose their health insurance under two Medicaid provisions just passed by Congress.
Starting January, recipients of MassHealth -— the state's Medicaid program — will have to get recertified every six months and have stricter work reporting requirements.
"Just these two provisions alone have the potential to increase our uninsurance rate by more than 50 percent," said Kaitlyn Kenney Walsh, of The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, which analyzed the impact of those changes.
"But there are [also] many other harmful provisions that will really unravel the gains Massachusetts has made in getting to near universal health insurance coverage," she said.
Kenney Walsh said Massachusetts health organizations will need to step up grassroots efforts to help people with the new paperwork — and they will likely spend more money doing that.
In addition, the federal budget bill will make it harder for people to qualify for Medicaid to begin with and also cut into the number of people eligible for other subsidized insurance plans under the state's Health Connector.
"People should have health insurance," said Kenney Walsh. "We will need to figure out a way to continue to promote that access to coverage and access to care in an environment where federal rules are making it increasingly more difficult for us to do that."
The more people lose insurance, she added, the more financial strain is likely to fall on hospitals, providers, and other aspects of the health care system.
