Massachusetts Uncompensated Care Pool Pressured as 50,000 Residents Expected To Lose Medicaid Coverage

As a result of state budget cuts, around 50,000 Massachusetts Medicaid beneficiaries are expected to lose benefits in April, a situation that could "break the state's already fraying medical safety net," the Boston Herald reports. Unless the former Medicaid beneficiaries are able to secure private health insurance, their health needs will be paid for by the state's $472 million uncompensated care pool, which is made up of funds from hospitals, state government and insurers. Lately, the cost of caring for the indigent has exceeded the pool's available funds, and this year, the pool could have a $100 million shortfall, the Herald reports. In the past, hospitals have been responsible for filling the gap. In a letter, state officials "warn[ed]" hospitals to "brace for a $76 million shortfall" that they will have to cover, the Herald reports. A nine-member commission will meet this week to discuss the pool's problems. State officials last reformed the pool, created in 1985, in 1997, the Herald reports. The pool has faced increasing financial pressure as medical costs and the number of uninsured rise. Bruce Bullen, chief financial offer of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and a commission member, said, "The pool is better funded that it ever was before. The unanswered question is why hasn't the pool demand lessened if we insured 300,000 in MassHealth, many of whom were pool users" (Heldt Powell, Boston Herald, 10/21).