MassHealth Estate recovery, upcoming webinars & other news
02/08/24
MassHealth Estate Recovery:
Today the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation released an issue brief on MassHealth Estate Recovery with recommendations for reform. MLRI wrote an accompanying report profiling 4 people who faced estate recovery claims after the death of a spouse or parent who had been on MassHealth. Read the Report here.
Estate Recovery perpetuates poverty and inequality. S. 726 and H.1128 sponsored by Sen Comerford and Rep Barber and now pending in the Senate Ways & Means Committee will make the needed reforms.
Medicare Savings Program
Medicare Savings Program are Medicaid programs that pay the Part B premium for eligible Medicare beneficiaries with income of 225% FPL or less, protect lower income beneficiaries from balance billing with income of 190% FPL or less and for all MSP beneficiaries avoid late enrollment penalties in Pt A & Pt B and automatically qualify beneficiaries for the Medicare Pt D low income subsidy.
- MassHealth will be holding Webinars on MSP next week-Follow the link to register
- Effective March 1, 2024 MSP will no longer have an asset test!! Big kudos to our friends at Mass. Senior Action for their tireless advocacy to expand MSP.
- MassHealth released a provider bulletin on the prohibition on balance billing MSP beneficiaries with income of 190% or less called Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries (QMB) here.
- MassHealth began redetermination for people who qualified for MSP using the short MHBI form (vs the full SACA-2 application) in late Jan 2024
- In November 2023 MassHealth retroactively provided MSP benefits for about 10,000 eligible members who had not gotten benefits to which they were entitled under the expansion of the MSP income guidelines that took effect Jan. 1, 2024
MLRI Basic Benefit Health Access Training Feb 29, 2024
Everything you always wanted to know about health benefit programs from a consumer advocate point of view. Faculty from HLA, the Boston Public Health Commission, HCFA, GBLS and MLRI will cover the basics of MassHealth, the Health Safety Net, ConnectorCare including troubleshooting and updates on new policies in the last year & there have been a lot of new policies in recent years!
Register with MCLE here
In the news..
More on Steward Health Care from the American Prospect Massachusetts Wakes Up to a Hospital Nightmare (Jan 26, 2024)
Erstwhile Boston media darling Steward Health Care has been strip-mining hospitals for a decade now. The power elite may finally be paying attention.