Date: 07/17/2009
- Finally there's some good news to report on the continuing saga of aliens with special status (AWSS). Because the state legislature has thus far failed to act on Gov. Patrick's proposed alternative plan to cover the 30,000 legal immigrants slated to be cut from CommCare, the status quo is maintained. At least for the month of August, the immigrant cut will not take effect. Full CommCare benefits will remain available to the 30,000 legal immigrants who received a warning notice telling them that their benefits may end on July 31st.
- There's still much work to be done. Advocacy is still focused on trying to get the legislature to accept the Governor's proposed alternative coverage plan which comes with a $70 million price tag. The problem continues to be with House leadership who have indicated that they will not take up any money amendments on the budget until late July, when they will be in a better position to judge revenue projections.
- We continue to urge local advocates to be in touch with their state representatives and their senators urging them to take up the Gov.'s proposal as soon as possible. We are also interested in building our story bank detailing the need for continued coverage for the AWSS population in the CommCare program. Click here for a copy of our reporting form. We encourage you to look at your caseload or patient population and think creatively about which cases best demonstrate the need for continued coverage for this immigrant population.
- We've also attached(click here) a tip sheet on advocacy strategies for dealing with the 30,000 CommCare recipients facing AWSS determinations. We have found that there are a number of CommCare recipients who are incorrectly classified AWSS, but who have a legal immigrant status that should qualify them for either CommCare benefits or MassHealth. One of the most common errors appears to be the misclassification of immigrants who had been continuously living in the US from before Aug. 22,1996 (the date the federal rules took effect) but who did not obtain legal permanent resident status until sometime later. Please use the tip sheet when looking at any individual immigrant household to make sure that the state has correctly applied their status to their case.
- Even though the financial situation of the state is dire, advocates remain hopeful that some positive outcome is still possible for this immigrant population in CommCare. Keep up the good work; keep up the calls going to the legislature; keep checking individual cases for the accuracy of the determination; keep alerting us to sympathetic cases using the story report form; and most of all, keep the faith. We can make this happen.
- Library Types: General
- Health Care: Commonwealth Care, Immigrant Health
- User Added Tags: AWSS, CommCare, Commonwealth Care, Immigrants