The nonprofit Massachusetts Fishing Partnership — the group that has worked for more than 15 years to extend health-care benefits to New England's fishermen and others who work within the industry — is shifting its focus to provide more overall social outreach and steer fishermen to the best coverage plans for which they're eligible.
But the partnership is also shifting away from providing its own coverage plans, working instead toward steering fishermen and other waterfront workers into health-care coverage that works best for them, as well as provide other outreach services for the industry, partnership president JJ Bartlett says.
Bartlett said the changing health-care landscape, including the dawn of MassHealth and federal health-care reform, has brought the shift in focus — though the partnership's goals remain the same as when it was launched in 1995. Bartlett is an Acton resident who has worked with all segments of the fishing industry and was called by the White House Office of Health Reform earlier this year to testify on health issues and the unique health-care needs of the fishing industry.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.