The state’s COVID-19 vaccine website also crashed shortly after it was rolled out. At the time, there was an eight-fold increase in the number of claimants from 20,000 in February 2020 to 160,000 claimants in March 2020 - and many complained that the state’s method for filing a claim, submitting documentation or following up on a request was outdated, clunky and frustrating to use. Russell Holmes of Boston said he was concerned about MassHealth’s IT system, after the state’s unemployment insurance system was overwhelmed with claims when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March 2020. The redetermination process as a whole was top of mind for lawmakers, who had questions for Levine and Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh. These calls will take 90 to 120 minutes, “but it’s a start” at making the process more accessible, he said.īeginning in May, MassHealth officials will begin publishing a public dashboard that will show where the people who are losing MassHealth coverage live, their demographics, and the reasons behind lost coverage. They cut the long MassHealth application by about 75 percent for applicants over 65 years old, Levine said, and next month they will begin allowing seniors to do their applications over the phone. Levine said MassHealth is looking to make the application process easier and remain transparent throughout the redetermination process. And unless somebody accesses the mailbox for her and knows that something’s coming, she may not get that piece of paperwork.” “As someone who has a family member who’s blind, happens to be my mother … Please call her when she needs to fill out her redetermination paperwork. “I don’t buy for a second that 150 people are going to help the situation,” Ferrante said. Eligibility redeterminations begin next month, and the program has 12 months to get through all 2.3 million people currently enrolled. After those who don’t reply potentially lose coverage, there’s a 90-day reconsideration period for them to return to MassHealth and prove eligibility to have their plan reinstated. Members will have 45 days to respond and if they fail to, they will then receive a letter informing them they have 14 days until they lose their coverage. The other half will have to respond to a letter from MassHealth to prove their eligibility, and if they miss the letter they risk losing their coverage. Massachusetts currently has 115,000 more job openings than unemployed workers, GBH reported last month.Īn estimated 50 percent of MassHealth members will be automatically renewed. They’re ramping up their workforce across the board, Levine said, including doubling the amount of customer service representatives in call centers to 320, hiring an additional 100 workers to determine eligibility, 80 to 100 temporary employees to process applications, and using grants to scale up the certified application counselor workforce.īut across the state and the country public and private employers alike have been affected by a labor shortage in recent years.
Maura Healey’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal, Levine said that the public insurance program is preparing for the onslaught of work checking the eligibility of those 2.3 million enrollees, and helping those who no longer qualify transition to other coverage.
Quinn Bill proposed for Massachusetts police officers to pursue higher educationĪn estimated 300,000 people are expected to lose MassHealth coverage over the next year as federal continuous coverage requirements for Medicaid in place since March 2020 expire and the state goes through a required determination process for the first time since the pandemic began, Levine said.Īt a Joint Ways and Means Committee hearing on health care investments in Gov.
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