MassHealth estate recovery amended regulations

MassHealth proposed changed to its estate recovery regulations in Jan. 2021.  Attached are the comments submitted by MLRI and 13 other organizations urging MassHealth to further expand its undue hardship criteria for waiving estate recovery and improve notice to MassHealth members and their families about estate recovery.  Final regulations were released in May 2021 and take effect May 14, 2021. An attached memo provides a brief overview of the final rule including how they improve on the  rules previously in effect and showing whether our Jan 2021 recommendations resulted in changes from the proposed rule or not. 

Pending legislation would both limit estate recovery in ways that cannot be accomplished by regulation and includes recommendations we made to the agency that it did not adopt. An Act Protecting the Homes of Seniors and Disabled People on MassHealth, Senate Bill 749 (Sen. Comerford) and House Bill 1246 (Rep Barber)

The final rules were released in May, 2021 in Eligibility Letter 238, effective May 14, 2021: https://www.mass.gov/lists/2021-masshealth-eligibility-letters

The rules, FAQs and other information are posted on a new Massachusetts Medicaid Estate Recovery website shown below