People who lost their Commonwealth Care coverage on September 1 because they are deemed Aliens With Special Status (AWSS) will be enrolled into a new CeltiCare plan over the next few months. In the meantime, they have access to either MassHealth Limited + the Health Safety Net, or the Health Safety Net (HSN) alone.
Our most recent Boston HAN meeting was all about Commonwealth Care. We talked with Melissa Boudreault and Niki Conte about gaps, plans, and premiums. We also talked about the state budget's impact—and a new report on CommCare networks.
The following is the second part of our May 28 Boston HAN meeting notes. It includes the Report on Network Standards in Commonwealth Care and Policy Updates from Health Care For All.
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.
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.
Please also see our complete March HAN meeting notes. In this section of the agenda, HAN members discussed concerns for elders, people with disabilities, and an increasing number of unemployed people during budget-crunching times—and helping clients through an often-delayed system.
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.
The MassHealth Training Forum announced (PDF) that starting this week, MassHealth is again giving clients 45 days to complete and return Eligibility Review and Verification (ERV) forms. The 45 day window now applies to MassHealth, Children’s Medical Security Plan, Commonwealth Care, Health Safety Net and Healthy Start programs.
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.
