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MGH Community News |
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MGH Community News |
| July 2021 | Volume 25 • Issue 7 |
Highlights
Sections Social Service staff may direct resource questions to the Community Resource Center, Hannah Perry, 617-726-8182. Questions, comments about the newsletter? Contact Ellen Forman, 617-726-5807. |
Many Eligible Kids May Not Get Tax Credit- Help Spread the Word On July 15, the IRS began sending monthly checks to almost all families with children in the United States — the official launch of President Biden’s flagship antipoverty program. Hailed by advocates as a transformative way to halve child poverty, the effort is also a national experiment in something akin to a universal basic income. But in order to fully live up to its promise, the money must reach everyone who is eligible to get it. And that’s proving to be a major hurdle. Both the IRS and local community groups are warning that a significant number of families who most need the relief risk falling through the cracks because they are not known to the IRS. In Massachusetts, roughly 58,000 children who are eligible for the money may not receive it, according to a ZIP code level analysis by the IRS. That includes children whose parents earn too little money to be required to file taxes, and families with mixed-immigration status, in which the children are citizens but the parents are not. (Any child with a Social Security number is eligible for the credit.) The number of children most at risk of missing out is highest in Framingham, followed closely by ZIP codes in Everett, Malden, Revere, Dorchester, Lynn, and Chelsea. “They’re the ones who need it the most. In that sense, it’s failing the group that really needs that intervention,” said Dr. Lucy Marcil, cofounder of Boston Medical Center’s StreetCred program, which provides free tax services to families. It is one of the only free tax preparation programs that remained in Boston after tax season ended, even though many families need help now to get the credits. The child allowance is grounded in the idea that raising children is expensive, and the federal government has a long-term stake in their health and well-being. Families will receive up to $300 monthly for every child under 5, and up to $250 monthly for every child aged 6-17. Half of the credit will be delivered each month through December; the other half will be distributed in tax returns next April. The amount of the credit decreases proportionate to income, but only the wealthiest families would receive nothing — for example, the credit would drop to $0 for a married couple with one child who make $440,000, according to the Congressional Research Service. For most people, the process should run smoothly: The IRS will calculate benefits based on 2019 or 2020 returns and directly deposit the money, mail a check, or send a debit card loaded with the funds. But the very poorest people, who don’t file taxes, as well as those who are undocumented, must register their information with the IRS to get the credit. Local groups are working hard to make the process easier. At their urging, the IRS recently introduced a “non-filers portal” where people who do not file taxes can register to receive the credit. Even that “could really be simplified,” said Allison Bovell-Ammon, director of policy strategy at BMC’s Children’s HealthWatch. Her organization and others including the Mass Law Reform Institute created a “Find Your Funds” website for residents to learn more about how they can access the credit. Yet obstacles remain. Many poor families don’t have access to computers and will have to fill out the forms on their smartphones. The website is not mobile-friendly and it is currently available only in English, though the IRS promises a future Spanish version. “Imagine trying to go on your phone and filling out this complicated form,” said Melanie Malherbe, a managing attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services who has been helping people apply for the credit. The fact that the registration is online and requires people to understand tax terminology made it inaccessible to many, Malherbe said. Language barriers and fear have also kept some immigrants away. The Trump administration spread concern that information shared with the federal government could lead to deportation, said Marcil, which makes some eligible residents afraid to provide the necessary information. Others are simply uncertain where to start. |
Resources:
Computer Access Tip: most Boston public libraries have reopened as have libraries in many other communities. - See the full Boston Globe article; additional material from HHS Takes Important Step to Thaw Chill, Eddie Carmona, NILC, July 28, 2021.
TAFDC and EAEDC Benefits Increase Signed into Law with FY22 Budget Governor Baker has signed the FY 22 budget into law which includes a grant (benefit) increases for those receiving TAFDC and EAEDC. The increases will be retroactive to July 1, 2021. Naomi Meyer, Senior Attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services’ Welfare Law Unit, said in an emailed statement said that they expect DTA will issue the grant increases quickly. The maximum TAFDC grant for a family of 3 will increase to $712 a month not including the $40 rent allowance. The maximum EAEDC monthly grant for 1 person will increase to $364. Grants are still far below the poverty level and Deep Poverty. New and historic grant levels:
*Does not include additional $40/month for families paying private unsubsidized rent. - From Governor signed the grant increases into law!, Naomi Meyer, GBLS July 16, 2021 and www.liftourkidsma.org.
Explainer: Will Massachusetts Do Enough to Limit Evictions? The CDC eviction moratorium enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31, after the Biden administration extended the date by a month. Landlords successfully challenged the order in court, arguing they also had bills to pay. They pointed out that tenants could access more than $45 billion in federal money set aside to help pay rents and related expenses. Advocates for tenants say the distribution of the money has been slow and that more time is needed to distribute it and repay landlords. Without an extension, they feared a spike in evictions and lawsuits seeking to boot out tenants who are behind on their rents. As of June 7, roughly 3.2 million people in the U.S. said they face eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. The survey measures the social and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic every two weeks through online responses from a representative sample of U.S. households. What’s the status of eviction moratoriums in the state? Massachusetts is one of several states that enacted a moratorium last year halting eviction proceedings due to the pandemic. The state’s pause on evictions expired on October 17, 2020, at which point the CDC moratorium became effective in Massachusetts. A bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this month also aims to help prevent evictions in cases where tenants are unable to pay rent due to COVID-19-related financial hardship until April, 2022- by continuing the court practice of offering temporary continuances to tenants who have filed applications for rental assistance (e.g., RAFT, ERAP). The new law signed by Baker this month also includes provisions aimed at helping tenants facing possible eviction understand their legal options. The law requires that landlords notifying tenants to leave a dwelling for nonpayment of rent also provide a form explaining the notice is not the same as an eviction and that tenants don’t immediately have to leave the unit. Landlords must provide a form that reads: “This notice to quit is not an eviction. You do not need to immediately leave your unit. You are entitled to a legal proceeding in which you can defend against the eviction. Only a court order can force you to leave your unit.” The form must also include information on rental assistance programs, applicable trial court rules and any relevant federal or state legal restrictions on residential evictions. What’s being done to help people facing eviction? When the state moratorium on evictions and foreclosures expired, Gov. Charlie Baker outlined a $171 million plan to increase rental assistance and help landlords negotiate with tenants. While much of that money has been spent, an additional nearly $440 million in federal money was set aside in December for rental assistance in Massachusetts and more was expected through the American Rescue Plan Act. Much of the federal aid remains. Are evictions expected to create a surge in homelessness? Assistance in Other States The Biden administration has launched a new website to assist renters and landlords in every state to take advantage of the tens of billions of dollars in federal Emergency Rental Assistance. These funds can help with back utilities bills too. - See the full AP news article with additional material from https://apnews.com/article/massachusetts-pandemics-coronavirus-pandemic-laws-government-and-politics-a71645d649cbd44b3ca25177c11d46cb and Eviction moratorium ends this weekend. Take action today to demand Congress act!, Deborah Weinstein, Coalition on Human Needs, July 28, 2021.
SHERA Program Launches – Landlords Can Complete Bulk Assistance Applications Early in July, the Subsidized Housing Emergency Rental Assistance (SHERA) program opened to all owners of affordable housing, including housing authorities (more than 200,000 potential eligible households). With a streamlined, bulk application and review process, SHERA can offer stability to many households at once. SHERA provides qualified private owners of affordable rental housing and Housing Authorities with an expedited path to apply for federal Emergency Rental Assistance on behalf of income-eligible tenants who have experienced financial hardship due to COVID-19 (directly or indirectly). SHERA can provide assistance to cover tenant-paid rent due during the eligible 18-month SHERA period starting on April 1, 2020. The MA Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) continues to encourage qualified partners to take advantage of this resource. Learn more about the SHERA program, including training recordings, on the SHERA Tenant Advocate website. - Adapted from DHCD Updates on the Eviction Diversion Initiative – July 2021, Ambrose, Ryan (OCD), DHCD, July 16, 2021, with additional material from www.mass.gov/doc/shera-overview-reference-guide/download
New MA Utility Help Fact Sheet With the end of the state’s utility shut-off moratorium, the Boston-based National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) is reminding advocates that they can provide information about utility consumer protections such as discount rates, serious illness protections, and other protections. They are an information resource but do not provide financial assistance. They can answer advocate questions and help trouble-shoot if your clients are having difficulty accessing utility protections or assistance. For a one page guide to Massachusetts utility protections, please take a look at NCLC's new Utility Help in Massachusetts: Advocates may call 617-542-8010, or email consumerlaw@nclc.org. We are monitoring the account regularly and your email will be directed to the correct person. - Adapted from NCLC Intake Assistance, Jenifer Bosco , NCLC, July 20, 2021.
Clarification: DTA Homeless Liaison Helps with DTA Programs; EA Shelter is NOT a DTA Program As we reported in May (DTA Homeless Liaisons Ramping Up- Currently Available to Advocates), The Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) is rolling-out new homeless liaison positions. These positions help individuals experiencing homelessness to access DTA programs. DTA programs include SNAP, TAFDC and EAEDC. We understand this has led to some confusion about whether the process to apply for Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter has changed. It has not. While pre-pandemic families could apply for Emergency Assistance (EA) family shelter at select DTA offices, it is not a DTA program. EA is a program of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). When DTA offices were open for in-person visits, DHCD workers were deployed to select DTA offices to accept EA applications (the only sites that accepted in-person EA applications). At this writing, except for self-serve kiosks, DTA offices are not open for in-person visits. The application process for EA remains via phone only: 866-584-0653, Monday to Friday between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. - Thanks to Martha Southworth for bringing this to our attention.
New and Updated Paid Family and Medical Leave Handouts All Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) benefits are now available to you as an employee, including leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition. The following are the most recent updates available to educate and guide you through this process.
If you have any more questions, please call the Department of Family and Medical Leave at (833) 344-7365 between the hours of 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. - From PFML Update: What you need to know, Department of Family and Medical Leave, July 14, 2021.
The Baker Administration has announced that Massachusetts residents who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can now use their EBT SNAP benefits to buy fresh food and pantry staples online from a variety of participating stores for same-day delivery and pickup via Instacart, including Price Chopper, ALDI and newly added Hannaford and Stop & Shop. Walmart and Amazon are also federally approved SNAP online retailers in the state. Massachusetts first launched the SNAP online purchasing program on May 29, 2020. Similar to using EBT SNAP benefits to purchase food in a store, benefits can be used to buy SNAP-eligible foods online, including fresh produce, frozen foods, dairy and eggs. Residents can shop for groceries from Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Price Chopper and ALDI via the Instacart online site and mobile app. Once an Instacart customer profile is created, customers can enter their EBT SNAP card information as a form of payment. Customers can enter their zip code to determine if they are near a participating retailer, and begin shopping for retailers’ EBT-eligible products. Once items are added to their cart, customers will be able to select how much of their benefits they would like to allocate to the order. Orders for delivery and pickup can be placed by customers for receipt in as fast as an hour or scheduled several days in advance. To help subsidize costs for EBT SNAP participants, Instacart will waive delivery or pickup fees through September 16, 2021, on up to the first three EBT SNAP orders for each customer with a valid EBT card associated with their Instacart account. For more information on EBT SNAP on Instacart, visit: https://www.instacart.com/ebt-snap. SNAP benefits cannot be used to pay for fees, like delivery fees. Economic assistance programs benefits received through DTA, which include Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC), Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children (EAEDC), and State Supplement Payments (SSP) cannot be used to purchase items online at this time. Residents can check their SNAP eligibility and apply online or over the phone at (877) 382-2363. SNAP will not impact immigration status and is not considered in the public charge test. It is safe for individuals and families to get benefits they are eligible for. Currently, families are temporarily receiving increased SNAP benefit amounts and it is now easier than ever to apply. More information: https://www.mass.gov/snap-online-purchasing-program - See the full DTA Press Release.
As of July 12 Boston City Hall is open to the public five days a week and appointments are longer be needed for in-person services. - See the City of Boston website for additional information.
Eviction Technology Access Sites Mass. Attorney General Maura Healy’s office has provided funding to community centers in cities hard-hit by the state’s eviction crisis to help tenants remotely access their court hearings with internet and video-enabled devices during the pandemic. “Our goal with this grant program is to help tenants who are at risk of losing their homes and may not have access to technology to advocate for themselves in court and safely participate in hearings” Healy was quoted as saying in a recent AG office presentation. Tenants may make an appointment in accordance with their court date through one of four organizations:
The Attorney General’s office is seeking an appropriate partner in Western MA. - From Landlord & Tenants Rights Web
New Emergency Broadband Benefit Website Includes Spanish Outreach Materials As of early July, 34,116 Massachusetts households had enrolled in Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB). This represents a fraction of the households eligible for the benefit. A new national public awareness campaign is encouraging Latino families to participate in the EBB program. EBB Para Mi is a website in English and Spanish that provides information about EBB and includes outreach materials in Spanish. Please check it out EBB Para Mi at https://www.ebbparami.org/mainmenu - From [Mass-digital-equity] New EBB Outreach Site for Spanish Speakers, Virginia Benzan, Race Equity & Justice Attorney, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI), July 9, 2021.
New MA Student Loan Ombudsman Student loan borrowers in Massachusetts will have a new resource to handle complaints or problems as they struggle to get out of debt, Attorney General Maura Healey announced this month. Healey has appointed Arwen Thoman, deputy director of her office’s Insurance and Financial Services Division, to the newly established role of Student Loan Ombudsman as part of the “Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights” sponsored by state Sen. Eric Lesser and state Rep. Natalie Higgins. Thoman and deputy ombudsman Erica Harmon will be tasked with “resolving student complaints, educating borrowers, monitoring student loan servicers and submitting annual reports on borrower complaints and trends,” Healey’s office said in a news release. Both Thoman and Harmon have “extensive experience” helping student loan borrowers through their management of the Student Loan Assistance Unit created in 2015, Healey said. The unit assists borrowers find repayment options, prevent the garnishments of wages and taxes, and to blunt debt relief scams. The Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights, signed into law earlier this year and now in effect, empowers the Division of Banks to require certain types of loan servicers to obtain licenses, Healey’s office said. Healey’s office said as part of the ombudsman’s role, the Student Loan Assistance Unit will implement outreach efforts including promoting educational materials and informing public employees about the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. The ombudsman role will also collaborate with other ombudspersons across the country and “serve as a platform for advocating for regulatory reforms and policy changes with the Biden administration and with loan servicers,” Healey’s office added. Healey’s office said a Student Loan Help Request is available online to help borrowers with their needs and loan issues. They can also call the AG’s Student Loan Assistance Helpline at 1 (888) 830-6277. - See the full MassLive article.
CMS Memo Emphasizes End of 2019 Public Charge Rules and States’ Responsibility to Protect Applicant and Family Information The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this month issued an informational bulletin to states’ Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies reaffirming that the 2019 Public Charge Final Rule – “Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds” – is no longer in effect and states should encourage their eligible immigrant populations to access public benefits related to health and housing. Consistent with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) currently applicable 1999 guidance on public charge inadmissibility, DHS will no longer consider a person’s receipt of Medicaid (except Medicaid for long-term institutionalization) as a part of a public charge determination when deciding immigration status. The information to states emphasizes that the 2019 Rule is no longer in place and underscores DHS’s call to action enlisting federal partners to ensure eligible immigrants are informed of these changes and their right to access public benefits like Medicaid, if applicable. “As President Biden made clear in his executive order restoring faith in our legal immigration systems, we must reduce fear and confusion among immigrant communities who rely on critical benefits that are available to them by law,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We invite states and our community partners to spread this message far and wide: we are here to help and the (2019) public charge rule is no longer in effect. All our communities deserve the peace of mind that comes with having access to quality care.” The bulletin ensures that Medicaid and CHIP agencies have a clear understanding that the DHS regulation – “Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds Final Rule” – has been vacated and DHS is now following the 1999 Field Guidance on Public Charge, which is the policy in place prior to the 2019 Final Rule. The 2019 Final Rule may have deterred immigrants from seeking for themselves and their families, including their children, critical government services that are legally available to them. The bulletin also reminds states about their responsibilities to protect the rights of Medicaid applicants and their families. States are prohibited from sharing a Medicaid applicant’s or beneficiary’s information for reasons outside of administering the state’s Medicaid plan, such as determining eligibility or providing services. States also have an obligation to keep applicant information safeguarded and protected, and they are generally prohibited from sharing applicant information with DHS. To read a copy of the full Informational Bulletin, please visit: https://www.medicaid.gov/federal-policy-guidance/downloads/cib072221.pdf. - See the full CMS press release.
Some MassHealth COVID Flexibilities Sunsetting In response to the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health national emergency (PHE), MassHealth implemented temporary changes in eligibility-related policies and processes to support the public health efforts to expedite access to necessary health care and maintain health care coverage for both new MassHealth applicants and existing members. Upcoming changes and flexibilities that will remain in effect are outlined below. Flexibilities No Longer Supported:
Flexibilities that will Remain in Effect: The following are temporary flexibilities that are not changing.
- From Updates from MassHealth: MassHealth’s Response to COVID-19 and the July 2021 Updates of the ACA-3 and SACA-2 Applications, Massachusetts Health Care Training Forum, July 22, 2021.
Urgent Coverage Alert for Dually Eligible MassHealth Members Over the Fourth of July weekend, MassHealth ended COVID continuous coverage protections for elderly & disabled individuals who are dually eligible for MassHealth and Medicare and who
MassHealth will be terminating MassHealth Standard and downgrading benefits to only the Senior Buy In or Buy In for the elderly & people with disabilities despite the continuation of the federal public health emergency! Who will remain protected in current coverage?
How will this downgrade affect the elderly & people with disabilities? How has MassHealth communicated this policy to its members, the public and the certified enrollment counselors, and Navigators? What can you do? Advise clients about appealing in time to continue benefits pending appeal. If you have a patient/client who has received a downgrade notice, make sure they know they have a right to appeal and maintain their current coverage IF the Board of Hearings receives their appeal within 10 days of the mailing date or before the date of the change in coverage whichever is later. Advocates- please let MLRI know if you have a client or patient who has gotten one of these downgrade notices. MLRI does not have an intake system, so please do not send clients directly yet. vpulos@mlri.org & ksymmonds@mlri.org. Advise patients and clients about their options to remain eligible for Standard or qualify for CommonHealth Many of the individuals who will be affected are those who turned 65 and now have an asset test for the first time and a lower income ceiling to remain eligible for. You can help:
Is this legal? We'll get back to you on that. Please email us if you have an affected patient or client (please do not refer patients directly). vpulos@mlri.org and ksymmonds@mlri.org - See the full Health-Law-Announcements's blog post.
The National Health Law Program has published Medicaid Coverage for Immigrants: Eligibility and Verification. Due to the flexibility states have to decide which groups of immigrants to cover, there is significant confusion about immigrants’ eligibility from state to state. This issue brief outlines which groups of immigrants states MUST cover, MAY cover and cannot cover with federal Medicaid funding (assuming all other Medicaid eligibility criteria are met.) The brief also includes a flow chart to help evaluate whether a particular individual is eligible for Medicaid coverage.
MassHealth Cost Sharing Confusion - Improved Member Communications Forthcoming As previously reported (MassHealth Cost Sharing Changes, MGH Community News, April, 2021), effective July 1, 2021, a MassHealth member’s cost sharing obligation for copays and premiums combined will not exceed 5% of the member’s monthly household income. These changes were implemented in two phases: the first phase became effective on July 1, 2020, and the second phase became effective on July 1, 2021. Beginning in May 2021, MassHealth sent members an initial notice explaining these changes and notifying them of their initial monthly copay cap. However, since sending the notices, we have received feedback indicating a need to further clarify the changes. Changes are being made to various public-facing and internal training materials and expected to be released shortly. MassHealth has decided to temporarily hold further noticing related to monthly copay caps to focus on refining the messaging. We will provide more information once this notice is revised and the plan to restart noticing is in place. Members are encouraged to call the MassHealth Customer Service Center select the Self-Service option to learn their current copay cap in the interim. Starting July 1, 2021, MassHealth will still send a notice to members whenever they meet their current monthly copay cap. Key Messages
Overview of the Phase 1 Changes – July 1, 2020 On July 1, 2020, MassHealth newly excluded the following list of services and populations from copays. Please note that copays for acute inpatient hospital stays were also eliminated on March 18, 2020. Services The following services were newly excluded from copays as of July 1, 2020:
Populations The following populations were newly excluded from copays as of July 1, 2020:
The complete list of copay exclusions are at MassHealth’s Copayments Frequently Asked Questions, or more information can be found at the MassHealth regulations at 130 CMR 450.130, 130 CMR 506.015, and 130 CMR 520.037. Overview of the Phase 2 Changes – July 1, 2021 Effective July 1, 2021, a member’s cost sharing obligation for copays and premiums combined will not exceed 5% of the member’s monthly household income. Effective July 1, 2021, MassHealth will replace the current $250 annual pharmacy copay cap with a member-specific monthly pharmacy copay cap not to exceed 2% of the member’s monthly household income. Please note that members will be subject to the new copay policy starting July 1, 2021. However, for the duration of the COVID-19 Federal Public Health Emergency, MassHealth will also ensure that members will not be charged more than $250 in total copays annually. This policy change does not change the set copay amounts, which are usually $1 or $3.65, for prescription drugs but rather limits the total amount of copays that a member can be charged in a month. MassHealth is not increasing member cost-sharing. The monthly copay cap serves only to further protect members by placing a monthly limit on how much they can be charged in total copays.
MassHealth premiums will not exceed 3% of the member’s monthly household income, as applicable. This limit does not apply to CommonHealth members. Resources
- From Updates: MassHealth Cost Sharing Policy, Massachusetts Health Care Training Forum, July 1, 2021.
Medicare Problem-Solving Contacts A recent consumer question to the Medicare Right Center’s “Dear Marci” column asked “I’m never sure where to start if I have questions or problems with my Medicare coverage. Who should I contact about these Medicare issues?” An edited version of the response follows. Knowing where to start and which people to contact can help you more quickly and easily clarify confusions, solve problems, and stay informed. Let's discuss a few important groups that can help, and when to contact each. First, contacting Medicare can help with many issues that arise. You can learn about coverage rules, ask questions about your Medicare Summary Notice (MSN), or check the status of your Part A or B claims. You can also contact Medicare to find forms for filing a Medicare appeal or to let someone speak with Medicare on your behalf. Medicare assists you in comparing costs and coverage of Medicare Advantage Plans, Part D plans, and Medigaps in your area. Medicare staff can even help you enroll in a plan or find health care providers and suppliers in your area that participate in Medicare. You should also contact Medicare to request a replacement Medicare card. To contact Medicare, you can either call 1-800-MEDICARE or go to www.medicare.gov. On its website, Medicare has some helpful tools to learn about plans and providers:
You can also contact Medicare to appeal a higher premium (called IRMAA) or to find the application for Extra Help. For some questions, you may want to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA). You can call SSA at 800-772-1213. It may be helpful to contact SSA about enrollment-related topics, such as to enroll in Medicare Part A and B or to correct issues with your Medicare Part A and B effective dates. You should additionally contact SSA to report a change of address or phone number. If you have concerns about the quality of medical care you have received, you should contact your Beneficiary and Family Centered Care—Quality Improvement Organization (BFCC-QIO). You can find your BFCC-QIO by visiting www.qioprogram.org/contact. A staff member can help you access and complete the quality-of-care complaint form. Examples of qualify of care complaints may be if you received unnecessary or inappropriate surgery or treatment, or if you experienced prescription drug errors. Now, who should you contact if you think you’re experiencing not just a coverage issue, but perhaps Medicare fraud, errors, or abuse? Call your local Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP). SMPs empower and assist Medicare beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers to prevent, detect and report health care fraud, errors, and abuse. You can find your SMP by calling 877-808-2468 or visiting www.smpresource.org. Finally, if you need more assistance and individualized counseling, you can reach out to your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). Trained staff there can provide unbiased, knowledgeable counseling on your Medicare coverage. To contact your SHIP, visit www.shiphelp.org or call 877-839-2675. - From Who should I contact with Medicare issues?, Dear Marci, The Medicare Rights Center, July 5, 2021.
Surprise Medical Billing: Interim Final Rule On July 1, the Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and Treasury, and the Office of Personnel Management, issued "Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part I," an interim final rule that will protect patients from surprise billing. This interim final rule addresses several provisions in the No Surprises Act passed by Congress late last year. Effective January 1, 2022, among other provisions, the rule:
Many parts of the No Surprises Act, including the independent dispute resolution process, the good faith estimates and advanced explanation of benefits, provider directories, and continuity of care are not addressed in this initial set of regulations. It does not apply to Medicare or Medicaid, since both already contain balance billing protections.The interim final rule will be published in the July 13 Federal Register. The rule will be open for public comment for 60 days after it is published. Details of the Interim Surprise Billing RuleIn this document, the American Hospital Association (AHA) has summarized the major provisions of the 411-page interim final rule. It is especially worth noting the following: Interaction with State Law: Requirements Under Prudent Layperson Standard: Consent Process to Waive Balance-Billing Protections: Providers Must Disclose Balance-Billing Protections: - See the full MHA article.
DACA Ruled Unlawful – Means No New DACA Applications A U.S. district court in Texas ruled this month that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is unlawful. This decision was in response to an anti-immigrant lawsuit led by Texas and other states challenging the DACA program’s legality. What this means: The federal government is blocked from granting any new first-time DACA applications. IMPORTANT: People with DACA will not lose their protections, and, for now, pending renewal applications will be adjudicated, and current DACA recipients can continue to submit renewal applications. We encourage anyone who is eligible to renew their DACA to do so. MIRA DACA Factsheet: Free legal assist with DACA renewals: https://www.miracoalition.org/our-work/dreamers/daca-application-assistance-request/ - From BREAKING: Texas court rules DACA invalid, Avideh Moussavian, National Immigration Law Center, July 16, 2021 with additional material from MIRA.
More on How RIDE Flex Differs from the Previous On-Demand Paratransit Pilot As reported last month (The RIDE Flex Replaces On-Demand Pilot- Users Must Reapply), on July 1, the MBTA launched the RIDE Flex, offering all customers of the MBTA RIDE the chance to sign up for subsidized, same-day trips on Lyft or Uber. When signing up, customers select whether they prefer Lyft or Uber and are then assigned a monthly allocation of subsidized trips based on past ridership usage. Riders will pay $3 per trip, and then the MBTA will subsidize up to $40; if the total cost is over $43, the rider pays the balance. Flex customers remain fully eligible for The RIDE and can use the standard service in addition to the on-demand option. Here’s some additional background information. Seeking to improve customer options while also reducing the overall cost of providing the service, The RIDE began experimenting with subsidized Uber and Lyft trips in 2016, when it first launched the On-Demand Paratransit Pilot (ODPP). In developing The RIDE Flex, the MBTA sought to build on the successes of ODPP while also making improvements based on lessons learned. For example, the RIDE Flex requires both Lyft and Uber to offer a phone option for riders without smartphones (under ODPP, only Lyft offered a call center). As the most common request the MBTA received from ODPP riders was to increase their monthly allocation of trips, the MBTA took the opportunity to reevaluate each rider’s allocation in launching RIDE Flex. No rider saw their trips decrease, but some riders received an increased number of trips, based on a combined metric looking at ridership both during and before the pandemic. Under the RIDE Flex, the MBTA will be able to reevaluate trip allocations more often than under ODPP. Building on the success of another past pilot initiative, the RIDE Flex contract also provides an incentive for Uber and Lyft to offer wheelchair-accessible vehicles on their platform in The RIDE service area (open to non-RIDE customers as well as RIDE customers, but in all cases only for riders who use wheelchairs). - From MassMobility- Issue 106, July 2021, MA Human Service Transportation Office, July 22, 2021. Cambridge Library Hires Social Worker When Marie Mathieu talks about her new job as the Cambridge Public Library’s first social worker, people tend to make the same joke: What, is she going to be helping people check out books? But rather than steering patrons to new literary arrivals, Mathieu’s job is about making connections with people in need. On any given day, that includes referring people who are homeless to places in the area where they can get social services; guiding an immigrant family that needs help navigating government paperwork (Mathieu speaks English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole); or listening to a person dealing with substance use disorders and connecting them with treatment. “Once I explain it to folks, they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, that makes so much sense. How is this not a bigger thing?’ ” Mathieu said. In the last decade, a smattering of libraries across the country have begun collaborating with social workers to support many of the patrons who take shelter in the public buildings each day. There’s often an overlap in their missions of serving people, regardless of their resources. The San Francisco Public Library hired its first social worker in 2009. And as the opioid epidemic and growing inequities soared, people who needed help often ended up at the public library, seeing it as one of the few welcoming spaces accessible to them. “Libraries are the epicenter of information. So my hope is to make the Cambridge Public Library kind of like a toolbox that houses all the tools that people have at their disposal,” Mathieu said. “That, I think, is kind of the beauty of my role — the role has a broad scope, so I have the opportunity to work with various populations, all of them being under-served.” The idea of offering social services through a library comes from the viewpoint that libraries should be truly public spaces — available and welcoming to everyone, not limited by income or age or ability or status, said Catherine Piantigini, director of libraries for the Somerville Public Library. “It sounds so simplistic, but really there’s nothing like it. There’s no third space in the community that’s anything like it,” Piantigini said. The Boston Public Library has a partnership with the Pine Street Inn, in which social workers help steer patrons to services. In the last decade, the number of libraries with social workers or connections to social services programs has grown — from about 10 in 2013 to more than 100 in 2019, said Sara Zettervall, a librarian by training and consultant and trainer of Whole Person Librarianship, a Minneapolis-based organization that educates library staff on social work tools. Librarians and library staff, Zettervall said, “were seeing patrons coming into the library with challenging life needs that we as librarians are not trained to meet.” She described it as an extension of librarians’ mission in connecting people with information and resources. ”This is an area where people might be uncomfortable asking for help, or they might not even know that there are resources they can ask for,” Zettervall said. “They just know the library as a place where they can go, that is safe and open to everyone.” - See the full Boston Globe article.
Complaint Against DCF for Not Providing Interpreters A collection of advocacy groups have asked federal health officials to investigate Massachusetts’ child welfare agency, charging that it is discriminating against immigrant families by repeatedly failing to provide parents whose primary language isn’t English with interpreter services. The complaint filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights and the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice accuses the Department of Children and Families of depriving non-English-speaking parents of “meaningful language access” — a potential violation of federal civil rights law and a failure the complaint attributes to a “deliberate indifference.” Such failures, advocates say, can have seismic consequences for families who are being investigated by DCF and face the risk of losing their children to the state foster care system, where Black and Latino children are already disproportionately represented. A DCF spokeswoman said the agency would review the complaint. “It’s not limited to one region. It’s not limited to one language,” said Deborah Silva, executive director of the Massachusetts Appleseed Center, which produced a report in January examining how DCF provides interpretation services. Its findings underpin the complaint filed Wednesday with the US Department of Health and Human Services. The department’s Office for Civil Rights probed a similar complaint against DCF and issued a series of recommendations to the agency in 2018. “Over and over again, they back-burnered this issue,” Silva said of DCF. “It just hasn’t been made a priority — and this is despite the fact that the federal government has already investigated them.” The groups charge that DCF social workers frequently rely on relatives, neighbors, or even children to help communicate for parents instead of trained interpreters. In what they call an egregious example, DCF social workers asked a father accused of violently abusing his partner to interpret for the partner, according to the complaint. (DCF declined to address specific allegations.) In the case of a Methuen mother, whose primary language is Spanish and is one of the complainants, the agency allegedly did not translate a single document for her while it investigated allegations of neglect concerning her son, who is autistic. It was only when she spoke to her attorney, who is fluent in Spanish, that she learned DCF had substantiated the allegations, the groups said. Even DCF’s Office of the Ombudsman, which is designed to help people navigate the child welfare system, offers its hotline in only English and Spanish, the complaint said. “DCF’s subsequent and systematic failure to provide interpreters for [limited English proficient] visitations, to translate vital documents to consumers’ preferred languages, and to halt the use of family members as interpreters support a strong inference of intentional national origin discrimination,” the complaint charges. Roughly 10 percent of those served by DCF say their primary language is something other than English, though it can vary widely in different regions, according to the complaint. In Lawrence, for example, 20 percent of those served by DCF say Spanish is their primary language; in Framingham, nearly 6 percent primarily speak Portuguese. DCF has previously defended its efforts to offer interpretation services, telling federal officials in 2018 that it was upgrading its technology to more quickly translate documents and that it prioritizes hiring bilingual staff. In 2019, it also began using a vendor to provide telephonic interpretation services, including to supplement its after-hours hotline, which at the time provided “some bilingual capacity” to communicate with people who speak Spanish and Haitian Creole, according to its most recent language access plan. DCF officials told Commonwealth Magazine in January its telephone interpretation service provides access to 200 languages. “This is not on the individual interpreters or individual case workers, who are truly doing their best. It’s a systemic issue with DCF that they’ve been aware of for years,” said Erin Fowler, an attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights. “What we need to do to hold them accountable is to have a federal investigation and really bring them into compliance with federal law.” - See the full Boston Globe article.
Just a few short months ago, Lucio Perez moved out of the western Massachusetts church he’d lived in for more than three years to avoid deportation. Immigration authorities in March granted the 40-year-old Guatemalan national a temporary stay in his deportation while he argued to have his immigration case reconsidered. Now, Perez is looking to a recent Supreme Court ruling to help him clear that final hurdle and officially be allowed to remain in the country he’s called home for more than two decades. Perez is among scores of immigrants hoping to get their deportation canceled because they didn’t receive proper notice of the court proceedings. In April, the Supreme Court ruled in Niz-Chavez vs. Garland that the federal government must provide all required information to immigrants facing deportation in a single notice. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for years has been notifying immigrants about their deportation cases in roughly two parts: an initial notice to appear in court and follow up notices providing the date, time and location of the proceedings. But Justice Neil Gorsuch, in his majority opinion, criticized the piecemeal approach as exceeding federal law. The issue, he argued, hinged on the shortest of words: a 1996 immigration law calls for the government to issue “a” notice to appear, implying Congress intended those facing deportation to receive a single document. “At one level, today’s dispute may seem semantic, focused on a single word, a small one at that,” said Gorsuch, a conservative judge appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump. “But words are how the law constrains power.” Immigration lawyers and advocates, who have long complained about the deportation notification process, say the ruling has implications for scores of immigration cases. “It’s a bombshell,” said Jeremy McKinney, a North Carolina attorney who is president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association. “It’s the second time in less than three years that the court has had to remind the government that a notice to appear actually has to notify a person when and where to appear.” Immigration activists argue ICE’s current notice process causes too many immigrants to miss their court hearings, as months can pass between the initial and follow-up notices. Some, they say, don’t even find out until years later that they had a deportation hearing and were ordered removed from the country by a judge. At minimum, the decision gives new life to cases in which immigrants weren't properly notified, never showed up for their deportation cases and were ultimately ordered to leave the country, he said. It also likely benefits anyone issued a deportation notice without the necessary specifics going forward. Indeed in places like Cleveland, Ohio, and Arlington, Virginia, immigration court judges are already granting requests to terminate deportation proceedings if an immigrant was issued a notice that lacks a place or date and time for the initial hearing, according to immigration lawyers. ICE, which had argued in the Supreme Court case that its notification process was sufficient, said Friday it's been providing the required information on a single notice since January 2019. It also referred to a June memo in which it said ICE lawyers will “exercise their prosecutorial discretion” in deciding whether to challenge immigrants who seek to reopen their immigration cases in light of the Niz-Chavez ruling. - See the full WBUR story.
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