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Date: 1/9/2019
SPRINGFIELD – Massachusetts may have a very high rate of its residents covered by health insurance but there is more work to be done.
“We won’t stop until 100 percent of our residents – and we are close to it – have health insurance,” state Sen. James Welch said at a kick-off event at the Caring Health Center to mark the start of the open enrollment period for health insurance through the Massachusetts Health Connector.
The Caring Health Center is one of the locations where people can consult with navigators – trained consultants – about which health insurance program is right for them.
The open enrollment period is now through Jan. 23.
Welch noted that Massachusetts was the first in the country to offer health insurance through a state-operated exchange.
“When someone has access to preventative health insurance their lives are so much better,” Welch added.
Tania Barber, the president and CEO of the Caring Health Center, said the navigators play a key role in advising people on health insurance choices.
Louis Gutierrez, executive director, Massachusetts Health Connector, said there are a “few simple things that guide our work.”
He noted that four years ago when he was hired he was given two directives: “provide as much affordable coverage to everyone as we can and treat customers right.”
He said that no one in state government has suggested the program “to back off or slow down to save money.”
The goal of the Health Connector, he said, was to provide competitively priced health insurance plans in a more direct, less confusing manner.
Gutierrez said the program has reached four milestones: the state has 97 percent of its residents covered by health insurance; it has the lowest average exchange premium of the nation and is one of very few states that offers subsidies to make health insurance more affordable.
For more information go to caringhealth.org/health-insurance-enrollment.html.