Action Alerts: Help us get co-sponsors for these MassHealth related bills

Hello all, 

 

Please encourage your legislators to co-sponsor the following three Medicaid bills, and spread the word to your networks. Fact sheets are attached. 

 

Extend postpartum coverage to direct MassHealth to seek approval from the federal government to extend postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months. Please click here to email or call your legislators to ask them to sign-on as a co-sponsor of An Act relative to expanding equitable access to maternal postpartum care (HD 2470, filed by Representative Miranda and SD 1929, filed by Senator Lovely).

 

 

Improve access to care for children with disabilities so that every young person with disabilities in the state receives adequate access to health coverage, regardless of immigration status. Please click here to email or call your legislators to ask them to sign-on as a co-sponsor of An Act to ensure equitable access to health coverage for children with disabilities (HD 2945, filed by Representative Rogers and SD 1909, filed by Senator DiDomenico).

 

 

Protect the homes of elderly & disabled MassHealth members from estate recovery. These bills will help protect the family home from being sold to repay MassHealth for medical benefits received by people age 55 and older. The bills will also make the process of estate recovery fairer and easier for MassHealth members and their families to understand.See, the attached fact sheet for more information.  HD1408/SD1031 Representative Barber and Senator Comerford. 

Please call or email your Representative and Senator and ask them to co-sponsor these bills.

Here’s how to do this:

1.                   Find out who your state legislators are – state Representative and state Senator can be found here:  http://www.sec.state.ma.us/wheredoivotema/bal/MyElectionInfo.aspx Get the legislators’ email address and phone number.

2.                   Email or call your Representative or Senator

3.                   If you have a client story or other personal experience relating to MassHealth estate recovery, add that. If not here, is the basic message:         

Dear Representative (or Senator) _______,

I’m a constituent and I live in _____.  I am calling/writing to ask you to co-sponsor HD1408 and SD1031 filed by Representative Barber and Senator Comerford.

This bill is about MassHealth estate recovery.  If you are age 55 or older and qualify for MassHealth, every medical bill MassHealth pays is like a loan that your family is expected to repay after you die  if you have anything to leave in a Probate Estate. This isn't just for the costs of a nursing home.  This applies to people living at home just because they turned age 55. 

MassHealth has to do this for the costs of nursing homes & some other costs, but it doesn't have to do it for many other costs. Most people don't know anything about estate recovery until it's too late. Families have lost their homes because of MassHealth estate recovery and lost the opportunity for stable housing and moving up out of poverty.

This bill will help. It says MassHealth should only recover nursing home & other required costs, and has to give better information about estate recovery & have stronger rules that protect lower income families from losing the family home. It has added protections for working disabled adults on CommonHealth.

Please co-sponsor this bill.