"Outreach & enrollment" means much more than putting up posters and helping people fill out MassHealth applications. Recently, over the course of a two hour appointment, my supervisor and I counseled one household on eleven different public health insurance, subsidy and care programs. We helped them file four separate applications to five different insurance programs, putting together a patchwork of care options to cover the hole left by the loss of employer-sponsored insurance.
It's been reported that over the past year more than about 200,000 Massachusetts residents have been provided access to comprehensive public health insurance: either through Commonwealth Care or MassHealth. What about those who aren't eligible for publicly subsidized programs and must enroll in employer-sponsored plans?
The increased cost of insuring employees and their families has forced many local employers to make hard choices about their insurance offerings.
MassHealth Advocacy Guide, revised in September 2006, is available.
Information to help clients get medications no longer covered by Part D plans
8/18/05 Take a 7-minute online survey to express your opinion of proposed changes to the Free Care program.
Advocates have expressed concern that Governor Romney's budget for FY 2006 includes no major new initiatives to cover the uninsured or restore previous cuts, and it proposes major changes in TAFDC and EAEDC programs that would create more holes in the safety net. The budget does appear to provide substantial funding for a revamped Prescription Advantage program that could fill holes in the federal Medicare drug benefit, as well as a $250,000 appropriation for outreach grants. Advocates responses to the budget:
