BOSTON — The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation has announced that its Board of Directors approved over $1.42 million in grant funding, including $575,000 to support community-based organizations helping eligible Massachusetts residents maintain health coverage as new federal Medicaid requirements approach and over $850,000 in support of perinatal health.
The foundation’s OB3 Impacts Defense Fund – Mitigating Coverage Loss is a new multiyear initiative created in response to federal policy changes resulting from the July 2025 passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OB3), otherwise referred to as H.R. 1. Under the changes, certain adult Medicaid members will face new work and education requirements and will be required to demonstrate their eligibility every six months rather than annually. State estimates suggest 300,000 Massachusetts residents could lose insurance coverage as a result of the law. The grant program is designed to help eligible individuals keep their health coverage.
“We created this grant program after meeting with community-based organizations, state health officials, and other funders to identify where additional resources could have the greatest impact,” said the foundation’s President and CEO Kaitlyn Kenney Walsh. “These grants put resources directly into the hands of organizations who are providing trusted enrollment and renewal assistance, one-on-one support, and facilitating access to essential wrap-around food and housing services to eligible residents as they navigate the federal changes.”
The selected organizations are located in areas of Massachusetts with high numbers of impacted MassHealth members and limited enrollment support. The following organizations will each receive $60,000 per year for the first two years of the initiative:
• The City of Fitchburg;
• Community Action Committee of Cape & Islands, Inc. in Hyannis;
• Duffy Health Center, Inc. in Hyannis;
• Ecu-Health Care, Inc. in North Adams;
• Hilltown Community Health Center, Inc. in Worthington;
• Holyoke Health Center, Inc.;
• The Fishing Partnership Health Plan Corporation, serving New Bedford, Gloucester, Plymouth, and Cape Cod;
• Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires, Inc.; and
• Worcester Community Action Council, Inc.
A one-year, $35,000 grant will enable Health Care for All to provide technical assistance to the grant partners to aid outreach, education and enrollment campaigns.
A chart pack released by the foundation provides additional information about the public coverage programs in Massachusetts, the key provisions in OB3, and what we know about how these provisions are impacting the coverage landscape, health care financing, and the health care delivery system.
Perinatal health
Separately, the foundation announced that the board approved over $850,000 in second-year grants, ranging from $25,000 to $60,000, to 18 organizations throughout Massachusetts through its Perinatal Health Initiative, a two-year program that was shaped by an ongoing assessment of the perinatal health landscape.
The grants support community-based perinatal education, workforce development, and policy and advocacy efforts aimed at reducing disparities in perinatal health outcomes. Funding will help expand access to culturally responsive care, education, doula and midwifery services, lactation support, and mental health resources.
“In year one, our grant partners launched their programs and tested new approaches to increase access to perinatal services,” said Kenney Walsh. “At a time of growing focus on how we can improve perinatal health and address longstanding gaps in care, this second year gives these organizations the opportunity to build on that progress by reaching more families and broadening the services available so that they can have a lasting impact.”
Perinatal Health Initiative grant recipients include:
• Family Health Center of Worcester, to expand the capacity of its OB Advocates program, which connects community members with trained and culturally-aligned doulas during pregnancy through two years postpartum.
• Greater Lowell Health Alliance of CHNA 10, which will build upon its Doula Academy to expand, diversify, and increase skills of the local perinatal workforce in the Lowell area.
• Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which will support the Mind the Gap Coalition’s statewide advocacy to strengthen perinatal mental health policies and align efforts across the continuum from prenatal to infancy.
• North Quabbin Health Collaborative, Orange, which will expand one-to-one nurse visits and group classes for families up to one-year postpartum in rural and structurally marginalized communities in the towns of Orange, New Salem, Petersham, Warwick, and Wendell, providing health education programs, screening, and referrals.
• Worcester Addresses Childhood Trauma, which will partner with Worcester Public Health to deliver culturally responsive perinatal education, public awareness campaigns, and events guided by the Citywide Black and Brown Maternal Health Work Plan. • Worcester RISE for Health, to strengthen its Maternal Care Access program for refugee and immigrant communities by providing practice-based mentorship for doulas and developing a centralized referral system and wraparound supports.
The mission of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation is to ensure equitable access to health care for all those in the commonwealth who are economically, racially, culturally or socially marginalized. The goundation was established in 2001 with an endowment from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. It operates separately from the company and is governed by its own Board of Directors. For more information, visit www.bluecrossmafoundation.org.
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