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Western Mass. Left Out of Health-Plan SessionsBy Tammy Daniels - November 06, 2007
NORTH ADAMS - Local legislators are calling on the state's Health Insurance Connector Authority to provide more information for Western Mass. residents as the deadline nears to sign up for health insurance.
Some $3.5 million was appropriated in this year's budget by the Legislature for outreach efforts, such as advertising and Connect to Health information sessions - none of which have occurred in Berkshire, Franklin or Hampshire counties.
"I really feel that we're an afterthought," said Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, on Tuesday. He said his office has had a lot of phone calls from constituents wondering what health-care reform means for them.
Residents must sign up for state or private insurance programs by Nov. 15 or risk losing their personal tax exemption, worth $219.
In a letter dated Monday to Jon Kingsdale, executive director of the authority, Guyer and five other lawmakers from the three counties say the state isn't doing enough to inform their constituents about their options under the state's landmark health-care reform.
The closest Connect to Health event is scheduled in Chicopee and "is unlikely to attract media coverage or constituents from our districts," they wrote.
Dick Powers, spokesman for the Connector Authority, said outreach efforts were prioritized to reach the most people in those places with the most need. He said Western Mass. was not excluded - it was part of a statewide mailing and advertisements had run on the Red Sox games during the World Series.
Local organizations, such as Ecu-Health Care and Advocacy for Access, have been in the forefront of outreach efforts, Powers said. "These groups have been very successful in getting people to enroll."
The Connector Authority also maintains a Web site where residents can get information and enroll.
Guyer and his colleagues say that's not enough because 32 towns in Western Mass. have no access to high-speed Internet, making it difficult for residents to use online services - if they have them at all. And because the area is served by the Albany, N.Y., television market, even fewer residents were seeing advertisements. Even the Red Sox were broadcast by Fox out of New York.
Powers said the Albany market was too expensive to advertise in.
Guyer wondered how a mother with two kids who rides the B bus to work could possibly drive an hour or more to Chicopee to learn about her insurance options.
"It's a lack of understanding of the difficulties we have in this area in in terms of geography and communications," said Guyer, adding that a lot of money was provided to the Connector for so-called mini-grants but it was not being spent equally throughout the state.
Yes, the eastern part of the state has a lot of poor, working-class people, but so does the western part, he said. "I'm really at a loss to understand their rationale."
Charles "Chip" Joffee-Halpern, executive director of Ecu-Health Care and a former member of the Connector Authority, said his organization and others locally had received funding for information programs and worked very closely with the state.
"We have active outreach programs already in place," he said, which have been "very effective." "Historically, we've had more people enrolling in all health plans."
Joffee-Halpern said he understood the state's need to "prioritize needs and to do so appropriately."
According to a recent report to the Legislature from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Connector Authority had enrolled 105,000 people in subsidized health care as of Aug. 1. Those enrolled have incomes at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $30,630 for an individual.
Powers said there was a possibility that an information session would be scheduled soon in Pittsfield, but it was still in the talking stage. "Just because the enrollment [deadline] is Nov. 15 doesn't mean the efforts will cease."
Guyer said he wants more effort and sooner for the Western Mass. counties. Local health initiatives have been successful because they've had to be, he said, because the state hasn't been here.
"What they're saying is 'you're victims of your own success."
Also signing the letter were Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, Sen. Stephen Brewer, D-Barre, Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, Rep. Christopher N. Speranzo, D-Pittsfield, Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox, and Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington. |
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