Representatives John Scibak (Hadley, South Hadley, Easthampton) and James O’Day (West Boylston, Worcester) have proposed amendments to restore the line item and the funding for outreach and enrollment. Co-sponsors are needed by noon tomorrow and amendments must be submitted by 5pm tomorrow. The more co-sponsors sign on to these amendments, the more likely funding is to be restored.
Overall, standards for 2009 are less stringent than they were in 2008.
This month, outreach workers were gratified to hear that the importance of their work is being recognized nationally – in a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report on effective ways to enroll and retain children in the Children's Health Insurance Program, and in the CHIP reauthorization legislation itself – but at the same time they are struggling with funding cuts to their own programs and those they work with.
Sites throughout the Commonwealth offer free help to low- and moderate-income Massachusetts residents.
Awards may be renewed for up to three years and will cover post-enrollment activities.
At both HAN meetings, Brian Rosman from Health Care For All (HCFA) led a discussion about the next steps in Health Care Reform. Before he spoke, outreach workers exchanged stories about how some of new policies in Health Care Reform are working out in practice.
Last week, the Department of Revenue released Draft 2008 Schedule HC (PDF) and Draft 2008 Schedule HC Instructions (PDF). In these drafts, the DOR explains the methods they currently plan to use to calculate 2008 mandate penalties.
Final regulations for “minimum creditable coverage” (MCC) tighten up the individual mandate beginning in 2009.
This summer, MassHealth starting enforcing the rule that households who hadn’t paid their premium bills for 60 days or more would lose their MassHealth or Children’s Medical Security Program (CMSP) coverage. Members of these households may be starting to show up at hospitals and health centers, they may have no coverage, and they can’t get the Health Safety Net.
Agencies propose changes to health care reform.
