Health Update & Reminder HCWG Next Wed April 26 at 3
1. FY 24 Budget Update
Last week the House Ways & Means Committee released its budget.
This is MLRI's Preliminary Analysis of the HWM Budget
Amendments were also filed last week and debate will take place next week.
HWM includes all the positive changes in House 1 including elimination of the asset test in the Medicare Savings Programs, and elimination of copays in the MassHealth program (we just heard that may have taken effect April 1). It also once more proposes a 2-year pilot program to raise the income limit of ConnectorCare from 300% to 500% FPL. This provision was in the FY23 House budget bill but it did not make it out of conference.
If you did not watch the Secretary and Medicaid Director at the March 28, 2023 budget hearing, you can watch it here. Start at 1: 05:23 to hear Rep Ann Margaret Ferrante's blistering critique of MassHealth customer service and her challenge to the agency in its handling of the 2023 redeterminations: Prove me wrong.
And what could be a better segue to recent revelations about missteps to date in the redetermination campaign.
2. MassHealth Redeterminations
- The latest figure for the number of MassHealth members who were protected by the Maintenance of Effort (MOE)-continuous coverage protection before it came to an end March 31, 2023 is 900,000. These individuals are at the greatest risk of losing coverage. Some were protected because they completed a renewal and were no longer eligible, but the vast majority were protected from losing coverage for administrative reasons and many of them are likely eligible.
- Contrary to the message in MassHealth’s outreach materials and webinars to date, after April 1, 2003 -
- MOE households who only want to update their address to be sure of getting their blue envelopes, can’t do that online. They can only update their address by calling Customer Service or sending in a letter with updated information.
- MOE households who go online and attempt to “Report a Change” will be taken to the 2023 renewal, and if they complete the 2023 Renewal after April 1, 2023, the agency can send them a determination that may downgrade or terminate their current coverage, and this may happen months earlier than if they had waited for their blue envelope.
- People who want to renew early and are in the MOE group, can do it. This may be a good idea if: 1. You are 100% sure you will be eligible, and want to get the renewal out of the way, 2. You know you are no longer eligible and want your MassHealth to end so that you can enroll in ConnectorCare or sign up for your employer’s coverage outside of open enrollment.
- But for many people, the safest thing to do is to call to report an address change and wait to see if you receive a blue envelope at some time between now and March 31, 2024.
- MassHealth is planning to change the banner message that now greets MOE households who go online to tell them to - Call Customer Service if you only want to update your address and contact information or - Use “Report a Change” if you want to complete a 2023 renewal now. (Were they to call Customer Service today, they would still be greeted by a message encouraging them to update their information online).
- MassHealth members who successfully renewed their coverage in the past 12 months won’t be selected for renewal until their next 12 month anniversary. But like the MOE households, they may be terminated earlier, if they report a change that makes them ineligible. MassHealth says they are required to terminate someone in these circumstances even though there is explicit CMS guidance that it is a state choice during the 12-month unwinding period.
- MassHealth is reviewing its outreach materials with its outreach partners HCFA and the Health Connector to change the message to match the reality.
- Organizations that have shared the message to prepare by updating your contact information, wait for mail from MassHealth, and follow the steps to renew if you receive a blue envelope are feeling more than a little sand-bagged.
- Have people been terminated or gotten terminated notices since April 1, 2023? Yes, but it's not the people who received a blue envelope. Very few people have been selected for renewal so far this month. In addition to situations described above, there have been terminations that don’t fit any pattern. We know some appeals are queued up at the Board of Hearings, and others have reestablished eligibility by reapplying over the telephone or supplying some verification that should never have led to a termination under the unwinding rules. An email to enrollment assisters also advised of some “inadvertent” terminations for certain people who turned 65 during the last three years and were protected by the MOE; MassHealth has a process to reinstate them.
3. Health Care Working Group:
List members should all have this recurring monthly meeting on your calendars. The topic will once more be MassHealth Redeterminations.
Wed. April 26, 2023, 3-4:30 P.M.
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