The Product
The Massachusetts Health Insurance Exchange (MAHIX) is the state's public portal for health and dental insurance enrollment. It serves over 1.2 million registered users residents comparing plans, applying for Medicaid, and managing their coverage year-round. When I joined, the platform was built on a fragile 2014 codebase with high drop-off rates, poor mobile usability, and accessibility gaps that posed a legal compliance risk for a government service.
My Role
I was brought in as Frontend Lead to own the end-to-end redesign of the enrollment experience from the landing page through plan comparison, eligibility screening, and account creation. I worked directly with the state's UX research team to translate findings into component-level decisions, and I led the accessibility audit and full WCAG 2.1 AA remediation sprint that preceded the public launch.
Beyond feature work, I architected the new component library that underpins the redesigned portal. I introduced a token-based design system using CSS custom properties in React, covering color, spacing, typography, and focus states enabling consistent theming across 100+ screens and dramatically reducing the cost of future design iterations.
The Approach
The project ran in three phases: a component audit and accessibility inventory, a design system build-out, and a phased feature rollout that kept the existing platform live throughout. Every screen went through device testing, keyboard-navigation review, and screen-reader verification before it shipped. The mobile experience was rebuilt ground-up layouts, touch targets, and form interactions all redesigned for thumb-first use.
Outcomes
The redesigned portal launched to the full registered user base. Post-launch data showed a measurable reduction in enrollment abandonment, a near-perfect accessibility score, and a significant lift in mobile task completion helping more Massachusetts residents successfully enrol in coverage.
"The new experience is dramatically easier to use, especially on mobile. We heard that directly from residents during usability testing."
— Product Manager, MA Health Connector