Expanded eligibility for children and pregnant women who are legal immigrants

Given new options under the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) rules, MassHealth recently expanded eligibility for legal immigrants who are pregnant or under age 19 and have any of the following immigration categories:

• Legal permanent residents ("green card" holders),
• Parolees (who have been paroled into the U.S. for at least one year) or
• Conditional entrants (i.e. refugees who entered the U.S. before April 1980).

Children and pregnant women in these groups no longer have to wait 5 five years in order to receive more benefits from MassHealth. Beginning August 28, 2009, they became eligible for the following benefits:

• Children whose family groups are at or below 150% FPL can now get MassHealth Standard.
• Children with family groups up to 300% FPL are now eligible for Family Assistance (including the new dental benefits).
• Pregnant women under 200% FPL are now eligible for MassHealth Standard.

There are also changes in the way MassHealth verifies immigration status and identity. These include:

• Legal immigrants will now receive MassHealth benefits during the citizenship & identity verification period. If verifications aren’t received, members will then be downgraded to the Health Safety Net (HSN). (Immigrants who are veterans or have experienced domestic abuse still do not have to submit verification.)
• Parents will no longer be able to verify their children’s immigration status simply by signing the MBR; that clause of the signature page has been removed. New applicants will need to submit documentation or a separate affidavit.
• Children of MassHealth-eligible mothers no longer need to verify citizenship and identity upon reaching age one.

For more information, please see the MassHealth Eligibility Operations Memo (PDF).