What's new at MLS

  We hope you all had a rejuvenating long weekend. Our next SNAP Coalition meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept. 24 from 10-11:30 AM. Zoom link here.  Summer EBT - apply by Saturday 9/7 to get summer 2024 benefit! Families who have not already been automatically issued Summer EBT…

Happy September! I hope everyone had a lovely Labor Day weekend.  This week’s Health Announce covers: Long-sought estate recovery amendments included with passage of the Long-Term Care Reform Bill!   Maternal Health Bill signed into law too! MassHealth…

It is not too late for MassHealth members who lost benefits for failing to reapply to reinstate their coverage back to the date it ended, and you can help What happened? Almost 300,000 MassHealth renewal notices were mailed in January and February giving 500,000 MassHealth members March…

FNS Agrees that DTA Must Stop Erroneously Counting "Recouped" or withheld Social Security Benefits (same rule for recouped UI and VA Pension) We are continuing to hear of cases where DTA is incorrectly counting in the SNAP calculation the income that Social Security is recouping for a…

MassHealth has sent out notices to people now enrolled in Basic and Essential as  well as some people now in Comm. Care or the Health Safety Net about their coverage changing to MassHealth CarePlus on Jan. 1.   People with disabilities or other special health care needs can choose to…

We just received word from the Commissioner's office that they have agreed to issue overnight EBT cards to any SNAP recipients whose EBT photo card did not reach them and their current blue card is not active or the envelope was returned to DTA by the postal service as undeliverable. As you…

At the SNAP Coalition meeting on Tuesday we heard from DTA that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is currently updating databases that DTA workers use to verify Social Security (also called RSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The update will continue through…

1.  Changes to Virtual Gateway SNAP/MassHealth Combo Apps due to Health Care Reform:  We are writing to let SNAP Coalition Members know that the MassHealth Virtual Gateway (VG) portal will be converting to the new health care exchange portal or ConnectorCare system…

DTA has just issued guidance implementing the new EBT Photo card requirements: Operations Memo 2013-57A and Operations Memo 2013-58A. The bulk of the Photo EBT card changes and guidelines are detailed in Operations Memo 2013-57. This email summarizes the key information you should know as Ops…

See email below from the BHA announcing an important community forum on the ARRA cuts. According to ABCD staff, attendees will view MLRI's short ARRA cuts YouTube videos (English and Spanish) as well as receive materials produced by DTA, MLRI and Project Bread materials that explain the cuts, help…