Bridge/CeltiCare Delay in Western MA
On December 1, immigrants in the Berkshires were set to be enrolled in the new CelitiCare “ Bridge ” program, the final portion of the rollout plan crafted by Governor Patrick and the legislature to partially restore healthcare coverage to the 30,000 legal immigrants who lost it in this year’s budget crisis. Unfortunately, some 140 immigrants in North Adams and Pittsfield are still without coverage as of this writing (December 9).
The contractor hired to run the program, CeltiCare, has been unable to reach agreement with providers in Western Massachusetts. The immigrants, 123 in Pittsfield and 16 in Adams, are among roughly 5,000 in western and central Massachusetts who became eligible on December 1st for coverage under the CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts. But CeltiCare has been unable to negotiate contracts with hospitals in those two cities, said a state spokesman, Richard Powers. Powers said the 139 immigrants left out of the insurance program will still be covered under the state’s Health Safety Net, which provides emergency care.
CeltiCare spokesman Brian Delaney said the company is continuing to negotiate with North Adams Regional Hospital and Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield for contracts to cover the remaining immigrants.
-From: MIRA Bulletin 9 December 2009, MIRA Coalition, and “ Some legal immigrants can’t get health care yet” by Kay Lazar, The Boston Globe, December 2, 2009 http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/12/02/some_legal_immigrants_cant_get_health_care_yet/, retrieved 12/22/09.
12/09