$75m hike sought for health plan

Increase would offer coverage for more immigrants

By Kay Lazar
Globe Staff / January 28, 2010

Despite last year’s battle with state lawmakers over health insurance for legal immigrants, Governor Deval Patrick is calling for a 25 percent funding increase for the program, a total of $75 million, in his new budget proposal.

Patrick, who has been a staunch advocate for the funding, said he is committed to the initiative for the group of 26,000 “hardworking, taxpaying’’ residents. Massachusetts does not receive federal reimbursement for the immigrants’ coverage, as it does for other health care programs.

“We worked out a pretty good solution’’ with lawmakers last year, Patrick said, but he acknowledged that the compromise reached after months of prickly negotiations was “bare bones, to be sure.’’

Last year, the immigrants lost their coverage in Commonwealth Care, the state-subsidized program for low-income residents, after lawmakers eliminated $130 million in funding to help balance the state’s budget. The Legislature ultimately restored about a third of the money, and the immigrants were given stripped-down health care plans, with significantly higher copayments for medications and other treatments.

A Patrick administration spokeswoman said the goal of the 25 percent increase in funding is to provide that basic coverage to as many legal immigrants as possible from a group of 8,000 who became eligible after enrollment in the program was capped last fall.

Immigrant and health care advocates applauded the governor’s budget request yesterday, but said they were girding for another tough fight.

“Immigrants have always been targeted, especially in difficult times,’’ said Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. “But we are grateful this is in the budget, and we hope everyone understands and sees the need.’’

Lawmakers said they will probably be forced to make significant cuts across many areas and that this program would be treated no differently.

“We understand that these are folks who live here and pay taxes, and the lack of federal reimbursement is a big part of it,’’ said state Representative Charles Murphy, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. “It comes down to the bottom line. We have to make tough, difficult decisions.’’

Overall, state-subsidized health coverage for lower-income residents took one of the biggest hits in Patrick’s proposed budget, with $265 million in cuts to MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. The cuts translate to modest increases for patients, including a $1 increase for most prescription copayments for the 1.2 million residents enrolled in the program. Also, adults will now be required to get some of their dental care, including dentures and root canals, at community health centers, where costs are typically lower than at the dentist.

Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... alth_plan/