Monitoring the Impact of Health Care Reform in Massachusetts, Phase 1

Award Amount: $130,345
Approval Date: November 14, 2006
Start Date: September 1, 2006
End Date: August 31, 2007
Urban Institute
2100 M Street, N.W.
Washington, Dist. of Columbia 20037
Principal Investigator: John Holahan, Ph.D.

The proposed study will evaluate the impact that Massachusetts's recently enacted health care reform legislation has had on low-income and moderate-income adults in the state. The study will include annual surveys of Massachusetts residents conducted in the fall of 2006, 2007, and 2008. The fall 2006 survey—for which funding is being requested here—will collect baseline information on coverage, access, utilization, and out-of-pocket costs prior to implementation of the reform initiative on October 1, 2006. Subsequent follow-up surveys will gather similar information in 2007 and 2008 to support a pre-post analysis. The proposed study will be funded by a consortium of sponsors: The Commonwealth Fund, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.