MassHealth announces updated five-year health care plan

Massachusetts Health and Human Services spokesman John Polanowicz announced Friday an extension to a five-year health care plan with the federal government worth $41.4 billion.

Negotiated in accordance with U.S. President Barack Obama’s “Affordable Care Act,” the extension will provide Massachusetts with the ability to run additional programs aiding those covered under Medicaid and state-run health programs, according to a press release Friday.

“The waiver really allows Massachusetts to continue our health care reform leadership for years to come,” said Alec Loftus, spokesman for MassHealth. “It’s going to provide affordable healthcare to more people and in a cost effective manner and it’s going to help some of our hospitals transform into more innovative healthcare delivery systems.”

The health care plan is renegotiated every couple of years, Loftus said.

With the Commonwealth’s first five-year plan, MassHealth hopes to improve health care coverage for patients through the health care delivery transformation system and supported programs focused on enhancing health care payment reforms, according to the release.

“Massachusetts has proven itself a national leader in health care reform with our success in extending coverage to nearly all residents of the Commonwealth,” said Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick in the release. “This new agreement will help us build on our success while also spearheading innovative cost-containment efforts across the state.”

More than $700 million from the waiver will go to health care programs related to substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation, homeless supports and chronic disease interventions, the release stated.

“In Massachusetts we used the waiver to do things that other states don’t do such as provide universal health care coverage and provide healthcare innovation and also to control costs,” Loftus said. “So this is something we’re really excited about.”

The extension will impact a variety of health care groups, including Signature Health Care, Health Care for All and the Boston Medical Center, according to the release.

Part of the health care reform will implement pilot programs for children with asthma and autism, said Amy Weinstock, director of the Autism Insurance Resource Center at University of Massachusetts Medical School. The Autism Insurance Resource Center helps to support families with children with autism so that they can receive coverage for autism treatment.

“Sometimes we get calls from families who have just recently found out their diagnosis, and they may have an insurance policy that doesn’t cover any autism treatment,” she said. “Because of some of the provisions of these laws, they have alternatives to access coverage that they wouldn’t otherwise have.”