“Bridge” Cut; Patrick Amendment Seeks Extensions

 

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed the Massachusetts state budget for fiscal 2011, which begins July 1. Barring the increasingly unlikely approval of federal stimulus funding (“FMAP” – see full budget article for more information), this budget would eliminate health care funding for nearly 30,000 legal Massachusetts immigrants at the end of August. In response, Governor Patrick also announced he was filing an amendment letter with the legislature, asking for their permission to allow Bridge to continue operating if funds can be found. Through some creative cost savings and the allocation of excess cigarette tax revenues, the governor then calculates that the program could continue for at least six months, or until the end of December.

The Bridge program was created last year as a temporary, low-cost solution to the plight of these 30,000 Massachusetts immigrants, comprised largely of those who've received their Permanent Legal Residency status ("green cards") less than five years ago and are thus ineligible for federal cost-sharing. Last June, the State House barred this class of immigrants from the Commonwealth Care program, citing federal law which prohibits the group from receiving reimbursement for Medicaid funding. The crisis led the governor to work with the legislature to devise Commonwealth Care Bridge, which began enrolling immigrants at the end of last summer and provides more limited care and higher copayments.

Other Immigrant-Related Provisions

Lawmakers decided not to impose some of the stricter immigration measures that passed the Senate with great fanfare last month, including the establishment of a 24-hour hot line to report companies that hire illegal immigrants and a requirement that the attorney general begin discussions with federal officials to offer help in enforcing immigration laws. Instead, lawmakers said, they decided to make official current practices that bar illegal immigrants from receiving certain state services.

Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said many residents are unaware that current state practices already keep immigrants from receiving state services and that putting those practices into law will ensure they remain enforced, while also bringing attention to them. Though illegal immigrants are currently barred from receiving in-state college tuition, the compromise language would not put that practice into law.

-From “PRESS STATEMENT: Patrick Tries to Resuscitate Immigrant Health Care; With State House approval plan would save ‘Bridge’ for 6 months”, e-mail from the MIRA Coalition, June 30, 2010, and Legal immigrants could lose out on care by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff, The Boston Globe, June 25, 2010 http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/06/25/legal_immigrants_could_lose_out_on_care/, retrieved 6/25/10.

 

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