Jul 24, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Health Insurance
The following information was shared by the Executive Office of Aging & Independence:
MassHealth has been made aware of a report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials will be given access to the personal data of the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities. The vast majority of these individuals are U.S. citizens and individuals with lawful immigration status. MassHealth has not received any direct communication from the Trump administration regarding their plans.
MassHealth have developed talking points for front line staff who work directly with MassHealth members about how their information may be shared. Please see that information below: For members and those working with members:
- MassHealth is aware of the report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials will be given access to data on Medicaid members, including home addresses and ethnicities.
- MassHealth only uses immigration and citizenship information as needed to confirm members’ eligibility and comply with state and federal rules.
- MassHealth is federally required to share member information with the federal government.
- MassHealth cannot guarantee that the federal government has not shared members’ personal information with immigration enforcement authorities or will keep members’ personal information from immigration enforcement authorities moving forward. We object to this sharing and strongly maintain that it violates federal law.
- Massachusetts has joined a lawsuit over the federal government’s sharing of Medicaid data with ICE.
- If you work with individuals who have questions about immigration, please recommend they speak to an immigration expert.
- For a list of immigration services in the community, visit Immigrant Health Toolkit – Health Care For All.
If asked: What if I disenroll to protect myself or my family? Can you delete my information?
- MassHealth is required to share historical information on members with the federal government.
- MassHealth cannot remove historical information in our system.
- If you choose to disenroll from MassHealth, the federal government will still have access to the historical information in our system. However, you would not be required to update your information with MassHealth moving forward.
What data is being shared with ICE?
- Based on the reported agreement, the following data fields may be included: Name, address, assigned Medicaid identification number, social security number, date of birth, sex, phone number, locality, ethnicity, and race.
Oct 4, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Health Insurance, Medicare, News
Chances are if you’re an Outreach Coordinator you’ve helped someone with a MassHealth application: a daunting task under any circumstance.
The Massachusetts Health Care Training Forum provides regularly updated information via trainings to staff members of community-based agencies—including COAs—and health care organizations. Their trainings cover topics that either are directly related to MassHealth or are adjacent.
The MHCTF website hosts webinar videos and slide shows from past presentations such as:
- How to Apply for Long Term Care
- MassHealth 2023-24 Redeterminations and Renewals
- Understanding the Medicare Savings Program
- Understanding Immigration Requirements and Application Completion for Health Insurance Coverage in MA
There are opportunities to register for their live, virtual meetings. October’s offerings that could be useful to Outreach Coordinators and SHINE Counselors are:
- MassHealth & Health Safety Net Updates
- Medicare in 2025
- Disability Evaluation Services Overview & MassHealth
Click here to register for the MTF meetings
Apr 5, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Health Insurance, PACE
Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) are in sites spanning most of Massachusetts. They offer a strong opportunity for high-needs older adults to receive all the medical and social services they need in one place while continuing to live in their homes.
PACE offers transportation to their sites where doctors, specialists, clinicians, and other service-providers are available in a uniquely efficient and easy-to-access way. PACE also offers memory care day programs, meals, and social activities for people with and without memory impairment. PACE programs can also provide home care!
PACE was designed to provide a way for older adults to maintain independence while having their medical needs met at one site.
Eligible applicants must be clinically eligible for nursing home care, and they tend to be “dual-eligibles”: people eligible for both MassHealth Standard and Medicare (there is no cost to being in the program for these enrollees). PACE enrollment specialists assist applicants and families with the application process. More often than not, PACE is an option for extremely low-income clients with income below 300% of the Federal SSI rate and assets under $2,000. People over the financial eligibility threshold for MassHealth Standard can pay a monthly premium to be in PACE. For married applicants, the non-applying spouse’s income and assets are not counted, as with the Frail Elder Waiver.
As beneficial as it is, PACE can be a tough sell. Many older adults, particularly those living with dementia, are not at ease boarding a van and leaving their homes for an institutional setting, even just one day a week. If you are working with a client whom you suspect would be a good candidate for PACE, involving caregivers or other family members can be one strategy: if you have a chance to describe the benefits of PACE to a caregiver who will get some much-needed respite from the program, that approach may pave the way.
PACE can also provide a means of securing supportive housing. For more information on this, see pages 9-16 in the 2022 report created by MassPACE, LeadingAge Massachusetts, and the EOEA, Considerations for Combining PACE with Housing.
PACE is an evolving program, open to new partnership opportunities that increase access to its services by partnering with natural allies like AAAs, ASAPs, and community health centers. One such collaborative PACE site is Element Care in Lynn, a partnership between Greater Lynn Senior Services and Lynn Community Health Center.
Want to learn more about it so that you are comfortable talking about this option with your community? A newly developed, self-paced, web-training is available!
Mar 8, 2024 | Health Insurance, Prescription Drugs
The US Government Patient Assistance Program, in partnership with Pfizer, has developed a “Paxcess” program aimed at providing free access to Paxlovid.
Enrollment comes with a Paxcess card.
Card for commercially insured patients:
Card for patients who are not commercially insured:
Patients, Outreach Coordinators, Caregivers, and pharmacists can enroll patients.
Online enrollment
Phone enrollment: 877-219-7225, Mon-Fri, 9 AM-9 PM, Sat & Sun 9 AM-5 PM
Patients who do not carry commercial health insurance but are enrolled in Medicare, MassHealth, TRICARE, VA Community Care Network, and those who are uninsured can access Paxlovid for free through December 31, 2024.
