Since enactment in 2006, 432,000 Massachusetts residents gained health insurance coverage as of September 2008, resulting in the lowest rate of uninsured in the US.

The City of Boston and its partners are collaborating to address health disparities:

• In 2007, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated Boston as a Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities and nationwide model. The designation brought millions in federal funds to the city for work on cardiovascular disease and breast and cervical cancer in communities of color.

• In 2008 the Boston Public Health Commission created the Center for Health Equity and Social Justice, which awarded nearly $1 million in funding to 13 organizations to address health disparities.

• In December 2008, Massachusetts General Hospital’s Disparities Solutions Center published Improving Quality and Achieving Equity: A Guide for Hospital Leaders, with case studies of innovative approaches to identify and address disparities and to achieve equity.

The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers launched an innovative program to help recruit primary care physicians after calculating that its 52 centers, with 700,000 patients combined, have a 10% vacancy rate in primary-care positions. Under its program, primary care doctors receive assistance with paying off student loans in exchange for working at a Massachusetts health center for two to three years.  The loan-relief program is a joint effort of the League; state government; Neighborhood Health Plan; Partners Healthcare; the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation; and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.

Improved access to mental health screening and services for both children and adults:

• TheNational Alliance for Mental Illness’ 2009 report Grading the States gave Massachusetts mental health system a B--up from a C in 2006, based on a review of nearly 40 aspects of mental health care based on the adoption of health care reform and an “ improved parity law that went in July 2009, adding alcohol and substance use disorders, eating disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and autism to private health insurance coverage.
• Following the 2001 class action lawsuit “Rosie D. v. Romney,” the Massachusetts Legislature passed the Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative.
• In 2009, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Department of Psychiatry, opened the Center for Early Detection, Assessment, and Response to Risk (CEDAR) located in Roxbury to work with teens and young adults showing early signs of mental illness.

The Boston Public Health Commission's Board of Health adopted a regulation restricting foods containing artificial trans-fat in Boston food service establishments.   Effective September 13, 2008, food service establishments could no longer use oils, shortening, or margarines containing partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils for frying, sautéing, grilling, or used as a spread.

In December 2008, the Boston Public Health Commission enacted a series ofTobacco Reform Policiesto curb the sale of tobacco products to vulnerable populations. Included in the regulations were bans on sales of tobacco products and cigarettes on college and hospital campuses and in drug stores and pharmacies that distribute prescriptions, as well as the prohibition of the sale of “blunt wraps” and smoking in outdoor workspaces such as restaurant patios.  And In September 2009, the FDA enacted a nation-wide ban on the production and sales of flavored cigarettes through the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

Massachusetts enacted a booster seat law, requiring children who have outgrown child safety seats to wear booster seats.   The bill is designed to reduce deaths and injuries from motor vehicle crashes, which are the leading cause of death for children between ages four and seven.