What's new at MLS

Health Connecter Reissuing RFIs in Late July- Early August; Response Required Within 30 Days:  During the COVID-19 emergency, the Health Connector had stopped terminating or downgrading members for failure to respond to a Request for Information (RFI). Now, in preparation for annual…

Enhanced benefits in MassHealth Family Assistance. The benefits available to people enrolled in MassHealth Family Assistance has just gotten a lot better for people with serious health conditions who need skilled facility-based care but don't need to stay in a hospital and can't safely…

  Save the Date: Next Health Care Working Group –July 22, 2020 3-4:30 ·         Health Connector –Rocky start for its new customer service vendor ·         More info…

When it comes to how to best support the efforts of the SNAP Coalition and the anti-hunger community towards anti-racism and equitable policy changes, we at MLRI are constantly learning, and want to continue learning from all of you. Below we have compiled some resources and information, along with…

The Health Connector is implementing a series of consumer-facing changes.  We are forwarding the MTF announcement of the first set including more convenient ways to pay premiums. More improvements are scheduled for later in the month.  ---------- Forwarded message…

We are writing to ask you to reach out to low income veterans whose SNAP benefits may have been reduced or terminated because DTA incorrectly counted VA Pension monies the veteran does not receive. In addition to a host of troubling DTA "data matches" (matches involving…

We are hearing ongoing rumblings of problems getting through to DTA. One example from today from a community advocate:     "Every time I have tried to call DTA'€™s new main number or the recipient services line, I get the same message: âDue to an extremely high volume of calls,…

MassHealth and the Connector have posted the new paper application form to be used in applying for MassHealth, subsidized insurance through the Connector, CMSP and the Health Safety Net for people under age 65.  It's the ACA-3 (Oct…

USDA recently posted the state-by-state SNAP "timeliness processing" data for FFY 2013 (that's federal fiscal year for Oct 1, 2012 to Sept 31, 2013).    According to USDA, Massachusetts fell from 10th in the nation in FFY 2011 in processing SNAP applications to 39th in…

The Department of Public Health (DPH) has formally announced the WIC switch to the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system from the the more cumbersome food vouchers, This is a significant change for both WIC participants as well as retailers and should be an improvement in…