Lawrence — MassHealth Assistant Secretary Mike Levine, Health Connector Executive Director Audrey Morse Gasteier, Health Care For All (HCFA) Executive Director Amy Rosenthal and others joined together on Wednesday to discuss the MassHealth redeterminations process and ongoing efforts in Lawrence to ensure MassHealth members know what they can do to stay covered.
From March 2020— March 2023, MassHealth suspended eligibility redeterminations and maintained members’ health care coverage throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in compliance with federal rules. On April 1, 2023 MassHealth began the year-long process of redetermining its full caseload of 2.4 million members — with more than 90 percent of Lawrence residents impacted. Members should check for mail from MassHealth and respond to it in order to get the best coverage for them and their family.
“Health Care For All is delighted to be partnering with MassHealth, the Health Connector and local community organizations to conduct a multicultural, multilingual campaign aimed at educating people about the steps they need to take to stay covered,” said Amy Rosenthal. “This all-hands-on-deck effort to keep our communities covered is only possible with the collaboration of community-based organizations like Olive in July and AgeSpan, who are working tirelessly to help MassHealth members in Lawrence maintain their health coverage.”
Although the renewal process for members began on April 1, MassHealth has undertaken extensive preparations in advance. This includes increasing staffing levels by about 500 people to support MassHealth Customer Service Center capacity, application processing and hearings; over $11M in outreach grants; and the development of multilingual targeted communications materials and webinars, and on-the-ground resources such as the MassHealth Renewal Hein Guide, which includes step-by-step renewal instructions and commonly asked questions.
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