About 1,200 families are in danger of losing their children’s coverage under the Children’s Medical Security Plan (CMSP), and may not be aware of it. The situation began when, last year, state lawmakers shifted the program from the state Department of Public Health to the Office of Medicaid as part of a reorganization of the Commonwealth's health bureaucracy. The two agencies use different computer systems, and when state officials transferred the program's files, the Medicaid system rejected about 1,200 children's files. Thomas Dehner, the state's deputy Medicaid director, said many of the files had discrepancies or missing data on family makeup, number of children, and head of household. State officials said the new system more accurately dispenses benefits, filtering out those who should not have been getting them. The officials said the families of qualified children snagged in the confusion have been given enough time and notice to protect their coverage.
Families were notified by mail and then given 74-days to respond. As that deadline expires for each family their children will lose CMSP. The first 100 families reached their deadlines on September 30th. Health advocates said many families had probably not responded because they had moved, could not read the letters because of language barriers, or simply threw them out as junk mail. The advocates are urging the state to extend the deadline to at least six months, arguing that the state has not done enough to contact families or healthcare providers who could offer coverage.
Providers should be aware that families might be receiving MBRs in the mail, and should urge patients to complete the process and return the application to maintain coverage.
-Adapted from: Kim Simonian’s Notes on Health Care for All - MassHealth Defense Group Meeting of September 20, 2005 and from “1,200 Children May Lose Health Plan From State” By Raja Mishra, The Boston Globe, 9/30/05.
09/05