Health Care Equity in Massachusetts

While Massachusetts has made significant strides to mitigate barriers to access and affordability through legislative reforms and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), substantial disparities persist among specific subpopulations in health insurance coverage, access, utilization, and affordability. CHIA has released several health equity-focused publications: 

• The Health Care Equity Dashboard reports on gaps in health care among residents of different races, ethnicities, geographic regions, and other characteristics.

• Total Medical Expense Trends Across Massachusetts Communities considers how medical spending varies across Massachusetts geographically and whether there is a relationship between certain spending categories and community characteristics.

• CHIA has published a series of research briefs and reports including how rates of unnmet health-helated social needs such as food insecurity, financial strain, and housing instability affect certain populations more than others.

• Additional CHIA reporting on equity issues include the Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey, which found that 47% to 54% of Black and Hispanic residents reported issues affording health care (compared with 37% of White residents), and the Primary Care Dashboard, which shows that residents in the South Coast, Metro Boston, and Western Massachusetts regions had the greatest difficulties obtaining necessary care.

CHIA prioritizes the collection and analysis of reliable and meaningful health care information on subpopulations to inform Massachusetts policymakers, health care providers, payers, and other industry partners. Data sources to explore equity issues facing the Commonwealth include:

• Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey
  
  
• Massachusetts Acute Hospital Case Mix Database (Case Mix)
  
  
• Massachusetts All-Payer Claims Database (MA APCD)
  
  
• Health plan expenditure and quality measure reports