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Study: Massachusetts spent $1.1 billion on uninsured in 2003

Compliance Monitor, November 19, 2004

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Massachusetts healthcare providers last year rendered $1.1 billion of medical care to state residents without health insurance, according to a November 16 story in the Boston Globe.

The findings came from an Urban Institute report commissioned by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. It's the first statewide analysis of the cost of caring for the uninsured. It also addresses the financial impact of providing health insurance to those without it.

The report says healthcare costs would rise by providing insurance to the uninsured, dispelling prior notions that covering the group would reduce emergency department visits and use of expensive, last-minute services, the Globe reported.

Once covered, the report says, the uninsured tend to use more preventive care and undergo more medical tests and per-person medical spending would increase to $3,152 from $2,318-a total increase of up to $539 million in healthcare spending for all the uninsured.

Researchers said that would increase the share of the state's economy devoted to healthcare by less than one percentage point and would result in economic and social benefits of up to $1.7 billion, because people would be healthier, the Globe reported.

Massachusetts reports there are 450,000 residents without health insurance.

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