State requests extension for expiring health insurance programs

Massachusetts will be requesting another extension for its existing health care program and an extension of temporary Medicaid, saying the addition would help the state better accommodate a rush of enrolees into the new health insurance system, and give members more time to switch to the new program.

In a Health Connector meeting on Thursday, Maydad Cohen, special assistant to the governor for project delivery, reiterated that the state is expecting approximately 450,000 people to have to re-enroll in health insurance through the health connector website.

Of those, 34,000 are on qualified health plans, or unsubsidized health insurance purchased through the state through the old program, 100,000 are on Commonwealth Care (or CommCare) - the subsidized state health insurance plan, and another 300,000 are on temporary Medicaid - established when the health connector website wasn't working and couldn't determine Medicaid eligibility last year.

Each of those plans was set to expire come Dec. 31, but state officials have asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to extend coverage for approximately 400,000 members to varying dates.

'In order to operationally be prepared for this many people walking into the system, calling (customer service), all that, we've staggered the (coverage) end dates,' Cohen said.

Under the proposal, Commonwealth Care programs would be extended to Jan. 31, a plan that would require extensions to existing health plan contracts and revised partnerships with managed care organizations, Connector staff said in a PowerPoint presentation.

For temporary Medicaid members, coverage would be extended in three waves based on when the member initially enrolled in coverage.