Impact of the American Rescue Plan Act on the Massachusetts Health Care System

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), enacted in March 2021, includes many provisions specific to state health care policy and programs. This issue brief, developed for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts, examines ARPA’s impact on the Massachusetts health care system – MassHealth coverage and services, subsidized health insurance through the Health Connector, health care workforce issues, and more – and poses questions for policy makers to consider in trying to create long-lasting impact from these time-limited funding boosts.