Health Announce: September 29, 2025

Topics for this week's Health Announce:

1. Oct 3 Public Hearing and Comment Deadline on Proposed MassHealth Managed Care Regulations
2. Resource: 36,000 Massachusetts immigrant residents to lose ConnectorCare coverage in January 2026
3. Corporate Fair Share bill – An Act Combating Offshore Tax Avoidance -- rally and hearing this Friday
4. Growing threat of federal government shutdown

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Oct 3 Public Hearing and Comment Deadline on Proposed MassHealth Managed Care Regulations

On September 12, MassHealth proposed changes to the MassHealth Managed Care Regs at 130 CMR 508 with a public hearing on Oct 3 at 11 and written testimony due by 5. Read details here. MLRI is in the process of analyzing these changes which make several significant changes worth commenting on. We will send out a summary tomorrow.

There are also 5 other sets of proposed amendments to regulations including two on the Adult Foster Care Program and Nursing Facilities scheduled for a public hearing on Oct 3, and three other sets of regulations with a written comment period that closes at 5pm on Oct 3 but with no public hearing that are related to Durable Medical Equipment, Orthotics and Prosthetics. These other 5 sets of regulatory changes appear to be making minor changes and we are not planning to comment on them, but please let us know if your organization has spotted any issues of concern that we may have missed. Click here to view all the notices and proposed regulations.

2. Resource: 36,000 Massachusetts immigrant residents to lose ConnectorCare coverage in January 2026

At last week’s Health Care Working Group meeting (HCWG), Vicky Pulos provided a presentation (attached below) about the immigrants under the poverty level who will be losing their health coverage with the end of ConnectorCare Plan Type 1. 36,000 low-income, lawfully present immigrants in Massachusetts will likely lose their access to affordable health coverage. See MLRI’s Fact Sheet for another resource on the impacts of this change.

For further discussion about the end of ConnectorCare Plan Type 1 and what mitigation options might exist, join us at the upcoming Health Care for All and MLRI webinar on October 15, 2025, from 10:00 – 11:30 am. REGISTER HERE.

3. Corporate Fair Share bill – An Act Combating Offshore Tax Avoidance -- rally and hearing this Friday.

Join Raise Up Massachusetts, a grassroots coalition of community organizations, religious groups, and labor unions, for an action this Friday, October 3, 2025, beginning at 9am at the State House, to rally supporters before the hearing on their bill, An Act Combating Offshore Tax Avoidance (H.3110, S.2033). Also called the Corporate Fair Share bill, the proposed law would raise new revenue for the state by requiring large multinational corporations to pay the state’s existing tax rate on more of the profits they hide overseas. The additional hundreds of millions in new annual revenue that could be raised would ensure that critical programs and services continue.

The hearing before the Joint Committee on Revenue starts at 10 am in the Gardner Auditorium and will be hybrid and livestreamed.

Also, Raise Up Massachusetts is holding Protect Our Care Town Halls across the state. To learn more about how the state can protect against the devastating federal cuts and preserve access to vital healthcare, food assistance, education, and other critical services, find a Town Hall near you.

4. Growing threat of federal government shutdown

Tomorrow marks the end of the federal fiscal year, and the current funding authority for the federal government, a continuing resolution signed by the President on March 15, 2025, expires. If that happens, we will face a government shutdown, the fourth in the past ten years. Two weeks ago, the GOP majority in the US House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government through November 21, 2025. Last week, the US Senate held votes on the House-passed CR, as well as on an alternative offered by the Democrats; neither vote captured the 60 votes necessary to pass. Democrats refuse to support a CR that does not include both an extension of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits and a reversal of cuts to Medicaid contained in the Reconciliation Act of 2025 (the Health Connector published a factsheet on how Congress' failure to extend the enhanced premium tax credits would impact Massachusetts residents: see the attachment below.)

There are parts of the federal government that remain in operation during a shutdown, and there are parts that don’t. Here is a list of some health-related federal programs and how they might or might not be impacted in the short-term by a government shutdown (strong emphasis on short-term – a long-term government shutdown could result in depletion of program funding with significant consequences):

• Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – No Impact: These programs are authorized by Congress in laws that do not need annual approval. Benefits will not be affected, though staffing in Social Security offices may be.
• Veterans Health Administration – No Impact: Medical care and critical services for veterans are financed through different appropriations and will continue. This includes suicide prevention and homelessness programs, the Veterans Crisis Line, and caregiver support.

Notably, unless the CR includes certain extensions, the following programs terminate.

• Hospital at Home: The individual waiver authority for the Acute Hospital Care at Home program expires tomorrow, September 30, 2025. CMS has directed hospitals with patients in the Hospital at Home program to either discharge the patients or return them to the hospital as of tomorrow. Massachusetts has 8 active Hospital at Home programs and 20 hospitals have received CMS approval for the program.
• Medicare Coverage for Telehealth: Some telehealth authority or virtual visits under Medicare are set to expire. There are certain pre-pandemic authorities allowed virtual visits for patients located in rural areas or areas experiencing a shortage of providers, and those should continue. However, some clinicians might not schedule virtual appointments after tomorrow because of the expiration of the Medicare telehealth flexibilities. Also, behavioral health providers will have to see patients for 6 month before being authorized to schedule telehealth visits.