The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation is a private health access foundation that makes grants and commissions policy research related to expanding access to health care. It also runs three programs with the intent of furthering that mission among leaders in health care delivery and advocacy organizations, and journalists who cover health care issues: The Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership, the Health Coverage Fellowship, and The Community Partnerships Leaders Program.

The origins of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation lie with the formation of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. Over half a century ago, a group of Boston philanthropists established the private, non-for-profit company Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to address a growing social need in Massachusetts: access to affordable health care. In 2000, William C. Van Faasen, who was then Chairman of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, initiated discussion among senior leaders at the insurance company about how to address the growing problem of uninsurance in Massachusetts.

They came up with the plan of forming a public charity focused solely on expanding access to health care among the state’s low income and vulnerable populations. With that plan in place, Van Faasen recruited Philip W. Johnston, the former Human Services secretary under former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and a former regional administrator for the federal Department of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton, to chair the board of this new foundation. Johnston, in turn, recruited Andrew Dreyfus, who had been one of Johnston’s key aides during his Dukakis years, when both worked on the state’s 1988 universal health reform law. At the time, Dreyfus was the Executive Vice President of the Massachusetts Hospital Association.  

The focus of the Foundation’s early years was devoted to assembling a clearer picture of who the uninsured were. The Foundation issued a report in 2001 that acted as a primer on the uninsured for policymakers, lawmakers, advocates, and other health care access leaders. The Foundation also established five grant program areas with clearly defined missions: The Innovation Fund for the Uninsured, Connecting Consumers with Care, Strengthening the Voice of Access, Pathways to Culturally Competent Care, and Building Bridges in Children’s Mental Health. The Foundation also began administering the insurance company’s newly formed Catalyst Fund, a mini-grant program funded entirely with donations from employees of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.  

From the beginning, data from policy research has been used to inform decisions made about grant funding, and vice versa. The Foundation’s signature achievement in this regard was the Roadmap to Coverage initiative, which provided the framework for the discussion, advocacy, and policymaking that eventually lead to Chapter 58, the state’s landmark health reform law. Today, the Foundation's primary policy initiative is Care Beyond Coverage, which focuses on identifying barriers to access beyond health insurance coverage, and suggesting evidence-based policy solutions. The Pathways to Culturally Competent Care and Building Bridges in Children's Mental Health grant program areas are now closed. The Foundation created the Closing the Gap on Health Care Disparities program area in 2005, and is currently working on a new program area to be closely aligned with the Care Beyond Coverage policy initiative.