MassHealth has an urgent message: “Act now, stay covered.” And don’t be fooled, MassHealth returns to its standard annual eligibility renewal processes on April 1. This means all current MassHealth members will need to renew coverage to ensure they still qualify for their current benefit. In case you’ve lost track of time, April 1 is this Saturday.
Time has felt like a great big blur for many of us, but now is the time to shake this off. Sure, you might still be adjusting to the end of daylight saving time, but the end of the public health emergency is far more consequential. Thus, the slogan: “Act now, stay covered.” And the blue envelope:
During the redetermination process, MassHealth will be sending out all renewal reminders to members in a blue envelope. As the outreach toolkit notes, “In March 2020, the federal government declared a public health emergency (PHE) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the PHE and consistent with federal continuous coverage requirements, MassHealth put protections in place that prevented members’ MassHealth coverage ending during the COVID-19 emergency.”
Now, however, “The federal government has decided to end the continuous coverage requirements. In response to this decision, MassHealth will return to our standard annual eligibility renewal processes. Starting April 1, 2023, all current MassHealth members will need to renew their coverage to ensure they still qualify for their current benefit. These renewals will take place over 12 months.” Most members will remain eligible for MassHealth following the redetermination process.
For those who will no longer qualify and, therefore, lose MassHealth coverage, the affordable insurance marketplace aptly known as the Health Connector can help. The Connector offers different health and dental coverage plans from the state’s leading insurers. And there is a special enrollment period for a number of qualifying events, including loss of MassHealth coverage.
The risk of coverage loss is real but preventable. Why? First, some people will no longer qualify due to unverified changes in employment, income, and/or household status. Second, others will become newly eligible for Health Connector coverage but fail to enroll successfully. Both will result in health insurance coverage gaps.
Let me repeat: Losing health insurance coverage in this context is preventable.
To mitigate coverage gaps, the state is communicating to members in two phases. Phase 1 involves notifying members to prepare for renewal, while phase 2 aims to educate members about how to renew their coverage. The very first thing MassHealth wants members to do is to update their contact information—address, phone number, and email so that important information and notices are not overlooked.
In the second phase, MassHealth, the Massachusetts Health Connector, and Health Care For All will join forces to launch the “Your Family. Your Health.” campaign. Direct outreach will target 15 “communities at the highest risk of losing coverage at the end of the continuous coverage requirements.” This effort includes multi-lingual and equity-focused member materials, which is truly great.
Governor Healey’s rural affairs director should work closely with the state’s rural health office
Surprisingly, all of Berkshire county is conspicuously absent from the 15 priority locations MassHealth is targeting in phase 2, the part about how to renew. According to a spokeswoman from MassHealth, the state chose the 15 communities across the Commonwealth with the highest number of MassHealth members. Remember, MassHealth is a joint federal-state program that covers medical costs for low-income people. And low-income people live in Berkshire County.
Of course, it is difficult to know how many MassHealth members there are in any given city or town for reasons of health data privacy. Still, Community Health Programs reported that last year there were approximately 25,000 MassHealth members across the Berkshires. This figure is based on information from Berkshire Fallon Health Collaborative, which is the county’s MassHealth program.
It is distressing to think health disparities between areas with high and low population density would be aggravated in the course of the redetermination process. But without knowing more specific metrics used to identify other areas of the state worthy of extra attention, it’s hard to know why no part of Berkshire County is part of phase 2. I invite MassHealth to be more transparent with all of western Mass—west of the Connecticut River. I also fervently hope Gov. Healey’s new rural affairs director will make rural health a top priority from Nantucket to North Adams.
Of course, readers can judge whether local leaders are doing enough on a statewide level to advocate for rural health equity. We’ll find out soon anyway. In the meantime, know that the state office of rural health is located in a town the office itself defines as “urban.” Either way, act now, stay covered.
