NEW LAW EXPANDS MASSHEALTH

On August of 1997 President Clinton signed into law a Federal appropriation to expand children’s health coverage. Acting Governor Cellucci then filed legislation to use these funds to expand MassHealth. It became effective August 24, 1998, and changed some rules adding a new MassHealth coverage type called "Family Assistance".

This expansion increases the family income standard for children age 1-18 for MassHealth Standard from 133% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) to 150% (see Page 4 for a Financial Eligibility Chart). Their parents, however, would still be held to the 133% standard- therefore a child might have coverage and her parent may not. In addition, the income standard for MassHealth Standard for pregnant women and children up to age 1 has increased from 185% to 200% of the FPL. Also new are some expansions of availability of coverage for aliens with special status (Contact the Community Resource Center for more details).

The Family Assistance coverage is a new type of eligibility and it is for children under 19 whose family income is between 150% (the cutoff for MassHealth Standard for this age group) and 200% of the FPL. This coverage type primarily takes the form of premium payments. In other words, if insurance that meets basic coverage criteria from MassHealth is available to the parent, the parent must enroll and MassHealth will pay a portion of the premium. If this is not an available option, then the child can be enrolled in one of MassHealth’s plans. More information will be forthcoming. Watch this space for announcements about a future CRC Presentation.

MassHealth 1998
Financial Eligibility Chart

133% Federal Poverty Level			150% Federal Poverty Level		200% Federal Poverty Level
Family Size	Monthly Income Standards	Annual Income Standards	Monthly Income Standards	Annual Income Standards	Monthly Income Standards	Annual Income Standard
1	$893	$10,716	$1,007	$12,084	$1,342	$16,104
2	1,203	14,436	1,357	16,284	1,809	21,708
3	1,513	18,156	1,707	20,484	2,275	27,300
4	1,824	21,888	2,057	24,684	2,742	32,904
5	2,134	25,608	2,407	28,884	3,209	38,508
6	2,444	29,328	2,757	33,084	3,675	44,100
7	2,755	33,060	3,107	37,284	4,142	49,704
8	3,065	36,780	3,457		4,609	55,308
each add’l person	+311	+3,732	+350	+4,200	+467	+5,604

Gross income of all family members in the group should be taken into account when calculating financial eligibility for MassHealth. The above chart is from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Medical Assistance.

9/98