Health care ruling a boost for some

LYNN – A ruling by the state’s high court last week that could add tens of thousands of immigrants back onto a taxpayer-funded health care program will put a strain on the state’s coffers, but could help some North Shore residents receive better coverage, according to interviews with Lynn immigrants, health care providers and politicians.The state Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week that a state health care program that limits coverage of legal immigrants is unconstitutional, calling the program “discrimination.”The ruling will allow an estimated 30,000 immigrants in Massachusetts to enroll in Commonwealth Care, a taxpayer subsidized health program for low-income Massachusetts residents.Many of them were removed from the program in 2009 when the state Legislature cut anyone’s coverage who hadn’t been a resident for five years in an attempt to save money.For Dorca Trejo, who works in Lynn at a travel agency, the ruling could allow her to receive better coverage. She has been a legal resident of Massachusetts for four years and is now covered for free on the state’s Medicaid program, which she said makes her nervous.”I’m not fully covered,” she said.Trejo said she would like to be on Commonwealth Care, even if it means paying a premium.Trejo’s boss, Joanna Pena, owner of Union Travel ‘N Tours on Union Street, said too many others are taking advantage of free health care while immigrants who play by the rules have been struggling to find coverage for the past two years.”There are a lot of people who come here on a visa, [who] get free care,” she said. “They have surgery and everything and the state of Massachusetts pays for it.”Commonwealth Care subsidizes health care for people who earn less than $32,676 in annual wages for one person or less than $67,000 for a family of four and don’t have access to employer-sponsored insurance, said Dick Powers, the spokesperson for Health Connector, the state agency that runs the program.Pena herself was enrolled in Commonwealth Care while she started her business, but she later disqualified for the program once she earned $50,000 a year. Unable to afford health care on her own, she said she violates state law and is uninsured.Last October she reluctantly headed to the emergency room after feeling chest pains and ended up paying more than $1,000 in medical bills.”I was really holding on because I knew I didn’t have health insurance,” she said.Although Pena won’t be allowed back on Commonwealth Care under the new ruling because she makes too much money, thousands more who regularly visit the Lynn Community Health Care Center will be, said the center’s director, Lori Abrams Berry.She hailed the ruling as a step toward making sure everyone has a right to health care.”I’m thrilled,” she said the day after the ruling. “It’s only fair.”But some policy makers aren’t as happy. There are about 24,000 people on the waiting list for Commonwealth Care and thousands more who would have to be covered under the new ruling, according to Powers.The Patrick administration sent out a statement shortly after the ruling that said that covering all of them would add $150 million annually to a program that already costs about $35 million.”This decision has significant fiscal impacts for the commonwealth,” Secretary of Finance Jay Gonzalez wrote in the statement.State legislators are working hard to find a way to make the court’s mandate work, said state Rep. Steve Walsh, D-Lynn, who is the chair of the legislature’s health financing committee.Walsh said his committee is working on a health-care reform proposal that would cut inflating insurance costs in half, better manage the state’s health-care programs and make the health-care insurance market more transparent for consumers. He said he hopes the bill will be introduced in the next few months.”It’s challenging, but it’s also our duty,” he said of the court’s decision to require the state to insure all legal immigrants.State Rep. Lori Ehlrich, D-Swampscott, sai