Western HAN members are currently waiting—for national health care reform to take shape, for the impact of state budget cuts to become clear, and for confirmation that the CeltiCare Bridge program provider network is broad enough here to begin enrolling eligible legal immigrants on December 1.
Yesterday, Governor Patrick announced that CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts has been selected to offer coverage to 31,000 people identified as "Aliens With Special Status" who today lost their Commonwealth Care coverage.
Since the legislature decided to end Commonwealth Care eligibility for some legal immigrants as of September 1, HAN members have been fielding lots of calls from concerned and confused immigrant clients.
MassHealth recently trained specific workers at the MassHealth Enrollment Centers (MECs) to process updates to your clients' immigration status. It is important to check and update immigration information right away, because members who are deemed "Aliens with Special Status" (AWSS) will no longer be eligible for Commonwealth Care after August 31.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation is seeking new applicants for several grant areas and for its transformative Institute for Community Health Leadership.
Approximately 31,000 Commonwealth Care members who are legal immigrants could lose their Commonwealth Care coverage as of August 1, 2009. A helpful tip sheet and checklist from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) can help you figure out who may still be eligible.
28,000 Commonwealth Care members are slated to lose their coverage under the FY2010 budget. Many of these people would never have gotten coverage without the help of outreach and enrollment professionals like you.
Commonwealth Care members who live in areas where more than one health plan is offered may change their plans between May 25 and June 25, 2009.
Outreach workers at this month’s HAN meeting in Amherst reported happily that it’s getting easier to communicate with the MassHealth Enrollment Center (MEC) and Central Processing Unit (CPU). Delays in the Medical Security Program (MSP), on the other hand, only appear to be getting worse. We were joined this month by Michael Norton and Niki Conte from the Commonwealth Connector Authority, who talked extensively with HAN members about problems and solutions within Commonwealth Care.
Please also see our complete March HAN meeting notes. In this section of the agenda, HAN members discussed helping clients navigate budget cuts and processing delays, outreach strategies that are working, and what to do about a recent glitch at MassHealth.
