Immigrants face hurdles with
new care coverage (Bridge)

The Patrick administration has salvaged health insurance for 28,000 legal immigrants (the Commonwealth Care Bridge program- for more information see MGH Community News , October 2009). But some patients are facing significant hurdles connecting with the doctors CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts assembled in its new network, which sharply limits the community health centers and hospitals available to patients.

“Often the new providers are a long way from where they live, and this is a problem for immigrants who have to use public transportation,’’ said Franklin Soults, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the state’s largest immigrant group. “The new places,’’ he added, “don’t have the translator services that their former providers do.’’

CeltiCare’s list of health care providers is largely composed of lower-cost community health centers and a small number of hospitals. The network excludes many medical institutions that specialize in treating immigrants, and that is leading to disruptions in their care, said executives at several Boston-area hospitals that were not offered CeltiCare contracts.

The state’s contract with CeltiCare requires the company to provide at least one hospital in each county and provide each patient with a choice of at least two primary care physicians who are accepting new patients, are “appropriate and culturally sensitive,’’ and are located within a 15-mile radius or 30 minutes travel time.

Recently a state agency blocked the company from offering health coverage to the public until April, saying CeltiCare does not have an adequate number of medical providers in its network for that product. But it did not make any determination about the adequacy of the company’s network for immigrants or for other lower-income patients who also receive state-subsidized health insurance from CeltiCare.

Many of the CeltiCare patients live in Lawrence, which has a large Spanish-speaking population, but Lawrence General Hospital and its affiliated community health center did not get a contract with the company, forcing more than 1,400 patients to make new care arrangements.

Among them is Amparo Villa, a 51-year-old Dominican immigrant who through a translator said she takes 16 medications for chronic illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and arthritis. She will now have to take a taxi to Holy Family Hospital in Methuen every time she needs to see a doctor, a $14 round trip.

“It’s expensive for me to go to Methuen,’’ said Villa, who takes home just $220 a week from her custodian’s job.

-From: “Immigrants face hurdles with new care coverage Network changes, delays vex clients” By Kay Lazar, The Boston Globe, November 5, 2009, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/05/immigrants_face_hurdles_with_new_care_coverage/ retrieved 11/5/09.

11/09