Health Announce: Aug. 4, 2025

08/04/25

Topics for this week’s Health Announce:

  1. Health Care Working Group taking a vacation this month.
  2. Brief reprieve for Massachusetts from enforcement and application of new interpretation of “federal public benefit.”
  3. Massachusetts adds greater protections for those seeking and those providing either reproductive or gender-affirming health care services.
  4. MLRI, HCFA, and HLA submit comments and recommend amendments to ten sets of proposed MassHealth eligibility regulations.
  5. Restoration of retroactive coverage to take effect August 12, 2025.
  6. New CHIA report highlights old problem: Black and Hispanic Residents face unmet health-related social needs at more than twice the rate of white residents.

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Be well,

Health Law Unit
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

1. Health Care Work Group taking a vacation this month.

As summer wraps up and people squeeze the last days of vacation before fall and school returns to session, we are giving the Health Care Work Group (HCWG) some time off as well. The next HCWG will be held on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, at 3 pm as usual. In the meantime, we will keep you updated on any health care-related updates and developments via the Health Announce. If you have any issues or concerns that come across your desk in that period, please don’t hesitate to contact us: jkaplan@mlri.org or ksymmonds@mlri.org or vpulos@mlri.org.

2. Brief reprieve for Massachusetts from enforcement and application of new interpretation of “federal public benefit.”

As reported in the July 22, 2025 Health Announce, on July 10, 2025, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it was rewriting the definition of “federal public benefit” to encompass all HHS programs, and Massachusetts joined 20 other states on July 21, 2025, in suing the Trump Regime to stop this new policy. By stipulation, HHS agreed to stay enforcement and application against the Plaintiff states through September 10, 2025, though the HHS website states it will stay enforcement and application with no limitation as to the States.

There is a comment period on the notice through August 13, 2025. Keep an eye out for a future Health Announce on comment templates or sign-on letters.

3. Massachusetts adds greater protections for those seeking and those providing either reproductive or gender-affirming health care services.

Last week, legislation aimed at strengthening the state’s 2022 Shield Law landed on the Governor’s desk for her signature. S 2572 updates the 2022 law protecting providers and patients of reproductive care (including abortions) and gender-affirming care from legal threats at the federal and state levels. Some of the provisions in the bill include:

  • Permitting prescription labels to display a practice name in place of an individual provider’s name;
  • Prohibiting state and local actors from providing information related to legally protected healthcare services to another entity, state or federal government; and
  • Requiring abortion care to be provided in emergencies when medically necessary.

Passage of this legislation is an important bulwark against continuing attacks on access to reproductive and gender-affirming care across the nation. Moreover, on August 1, 2025, Attorney General Campbell announced the joint filing of a lawsuit with 15 other Attorneys General, pushing back on the Trump Regime’s efforts to use criminal and civil enforcement to restrict access to necessary health care for transgender, intersex, and nonbinary youth.

The work does not stop here. It’s worth remembering that every state in the country save one (Vermont) has seen the filing of anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Massachusetts has five. Additionally, trans youth are losing access to care as more hospitals shut off gender care for patients under 19 – including in “blue” states like California and Connecticut. If you have concerns about access to gender-affirming care in Massachusetts, this Attorney General’s Guidance is helpful.

4. MLRI, HCFA, and HLA submit comments and recommend amendments to ten sets of proposed MassHealth eligibility regulations.

On August 1, 2025, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI), Health Care for All (HCFA), and Health Law Advocates (HLA) submitted comments to MassHealth on ten sets of proposed regulations, encompassing policies from estate recovery to continuous eligibility. Many of the changes are bringing the regulations up to date to reflect policies amended as far back as 2022 through Eligibility Operations Memos. While the notice of proposed regulations states that changes are not expected to take effect prior to October 2025, many of the changes have already been implemented or are slated to take effect soon.

5. Restoration of retroactive coverage to take effect August 12, 2025.

Effective August 12, 2025, the MassHealth eligibility start date will be the first of the month of application or up to three months earlier when requested. (This date can be found on slide 16 of the July MassHealth Training Forum slides.) This new policy replaces the earlier 10-day retroactive rule and applies to both initial approvals as well as when a member is eligible for a richer benefit. It reflects MassHealth’s restoring three months retroactive coverage for all under 65. All applicants for comprehensive MassHealth coverage can request up to three months of retroactive coverage if the applicant(s) (1) have bills for medical services received in the three months before submitting the MassHealth application and (2) were eligible for MassHealth during that period. This was one of the proposed rules included in our August 1, 2025 comments where we ask for greater clarity.

6. New CHIA report highlights old problem: Black and Hispanic Residents face unmet health-related social needs at more than twice the rate of white residents.

Last month, the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) published a new report on research examining disparities in the rates of unmet health-related social needs (HRSNs) by race/ethnicity in Massachusetts. The report, Black and Hispanic Residents in Massachusetts report Higher Rates of Unmet Health-Related Social Needs in Their Families, demonstrates that Black and Hispanic residents of Massachusetts are:

  • 3x more likely to experience food insecurity,
  • 2x more likely to report financial strain, and
  • Nearly 3x more likely to experience housing instability.