Immigrant health-care ruling may add $150M to state budget
The Lowell Sun
Updated: 01/06/2012 06:37:14 AM EST


By Kyle Cheney

State House News Service

BOSTON -- A ruling by the state's high court invalidating a state health-care program for legal immigrants could add $150 million to the taxpayers' annual budget tab, Gov. Deval Patrick's top fiscal adviser estimated yesterday, as lawmakers and state agencies scrambled to respond to the decision.

Patrick administration officials and top lawmakers pledged to comply with the ruling, which comes as state officials are planning for further budget cuts and austerity measures.

The unanimous ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court to strike down the health-care program for thousands of legal Massachusetts immigrants paves the way for those residents to rejoin Commonwealth Care, a heavily subsidized health program for low-income Massachusetts residents. About 30,000 immigrants were removed from that program in 2009 as lawmakers sought to balance the state budget, and many were placed on a plan with reduced benefits and sharply higher co-pays.

The reduced plan -- known as the Commowneawlth Care Bridge Program -- violates the equal protection clause of the Massachusetts Constitution, the SJC determined. "Fiscal considerations alone cannot justify a State's invidious discrimination against aliens," Justice Robert Cordy wrote, arguing that lawmakers had presented limited other justification for their action.

Glen Shor, executive director of the Connector Authority, which oversees Commonwealth Care, said he's "going
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to be working hand-in-hand" with the Patrick administration and the Legislature to bring immigrants back into the more expansive health program.

"I don't think anybody here is thinking of doing any foot-dragging, but you know, on the other hand, I don't think it's fair to say it's as simple as flipping a light switch," Shor said. "It would take operational work, at a minimum."

Asked how long it might take to bring as many as 35,000 excluded immigrants back onto Commonwealth Care, Shor noted that it took about three months to remove the immigrants from the program, and he called that timetable "illustrative." He also emphasized that immigrants currently on the Bridge Program are in no jeopardy of losing health coverage as a result of the ruling.

Sen. Stephen Brewer, D-Barre, chairman of the Senate Way and Means Committee, said he anticipates the court ruling to "have an impact on this year's budget and next year's budget, no doubt about it."

"In our budget scenario that we looked at, we had pretty much agreed it was going to be very challenging. This makes it more challenging. We are vetting exactly how we're going to address it collectively," he said in a phone interview, adding, "We will comply with the order of the court."

Patrick's top fiscal adviser, Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez, estimated the cost of the ruling to taxpayers at "somewhere in the range of $150 million."

"However, we respect the Court's decision, and we will work expeditiously to identify the resources required and the operational steps that need to be taken to integrate all eligible, legal immigrants into the Commonwealth Care program in accordance with today's decision," he said.


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