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April 12, 2024 – The Massachusetts Health Connector is celebrating today’s 18th anniversary of health care reform in Massachusetts, highlighting all-time high enrollment in health and dental plans, and providing health insurance to more than 1.1 million Massachusetts residents since 2015. Today, 350,000 Massachusetts residents get their health or dental coverage (or both) through the Health Connector, the most in the Marketplace’s history. This includes more than 250,000 in ConnectorCare coverage, the Health Connector’s landmark subsidized health insurance program. “Massachusetts’s historic health care reform law was signed into law on April 12, 2006, and not only created new opportunities for Massachusetts residents to access affordable health coverage, it also served as the model for national reform and the Affordable Care Act,” said Audrey Morse Gasteier, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. “Over just the last decade, more than 1 million Massachusetts residents have relied the Health Connector at some point for the coverage they needed, and today more than 21 million people are in ACA plans due to what Massachusetts proved was possible nearly two decades ago.” Massachusetts’s health care reform law, known as Chapter 58, created the Health Connector and the concept of an insurance marketplace that could connect easily residents of all incomes to comprehensive health coverage if they did not have access to coverage through a job or another program, like Medicaid or Medicare. The Health Connector also created a model for delivering subsidized coverage to state residents who qualify. Originally known as Commonwealth [...]

Marketplace enrollment increases dramatically by 40 percent in the last year BOSTON – More than 72,000 people enrolled in new health insurance plans with the Massachusetts Health Connector during Open Enrollment 2024, which ended on January 23. This is the largest number of new enrollments in a decade, continuing a rapid increase in overall Health Connector enrollment, which has surged by 40 percent in the last year. Since February 2023, Health Connector individual health coverage enrollment has grown from 209,000 to 294,000 – a total increase of 85,000. Contributing to the surge in enrollment was this year’s historic ConnectorCare expansion – increasing the eligibility limit from 300 percent of the federal poverty level to 500 percent. During this year’s Open Enrollment, more than 43,000 current and new members moved into these new ConnectorCare plans. The Health Connector currently delivers individual (non-group) or small-business health insurance and dental coverage to more than 335,000 Massachusetts residents. The ongoing Medicaid redetermination process with MassHealth also continued to propel enrollment, with more than 25,000 people entering Health Connector coverage in January 2024 or February 2024 from MassHealth. Since redeterminations began in April 2023, more than 90,000 people have transitioned to Health Connector coverage after being no longer eligible for MassHealth. “Massachusetts has been a national leader in health coverage for nearly 20 years, and we’re so pleased to see even more people than ever before signing up for affordable health coverage through the Health Connector this Open Enrollment,” said Audrey Morse Gasteier, the Executive [...]

The deadline for coverage beginning January 1 is December 23, 2023, but residents have until January 23 to apply for 2024 coverage BOSTON, November 1, 2023 – Open Enrollment for 2024 health plans through the Massachusetts Health Connector starts today, with expanded access for tens of thousands of newly-eligible Massachusetts residents to the landmark ConnectorCare program that already helps 156,000 people access more affordable coverage. Open Enrollment is when anyone who needs health insurance can find coverage through the Health Connector, the Commonwealth’s official health insurance Marketplace. Open Enrollment runs through Jan. 23, but the deadline to start the New Year with coverage is Dec. 23. People who need health insurance can go to MAhealthconnector.org to apply and enroll in coverage. They can also find community-based support in dozens of languages to assist with completing an application. ConnectorCare plans save participants thousands of dollars in annual health care costs. For the first time, all Marketplace commercial carriers will participate in the program, which features subsidized monthly premiums, low co-pays, and no deductible payments. The two-year pilot expansion of ConnectorCare was part of the Fiscal Year 2024 state budget and increases income eligibility limits from 300 to 500 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) – $72,900 for an individual and $150,000 for a family of four. “No matter the reason – whether someone has lost MassHealth coverage, is new to Massachusetts, or recently lost coverage from an employer – there is no better time to find coverage through the [...]