Amendment #659 to H4200

MassHealth Data Matching

Representatives Provost of Somerville, Cantwell of Marshfield, Decker of Cambridge, Hecht of Watertown and Toomey of Cambridge move to amend the bill by adding the following section:

"SECTION XXXX. Chapter 118E of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding after Section 77 the following section:-

Section 78. At the time of initial application for, or renewal of, MassHealth coverage or any other single state application or renewal process described in section 7A of chapter 118E, the department shall provide the MassHealth applicant or recipient with the opportunity to complete a common application for MassHealth and for programs administered by the department of transitional assistance, including the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Program for Emergency Aid to Elders, Disabled and Children pursuant to chapter 117A and the Program for Transitional Assistance to Families with Dependent Children pursuant to chapter 118. A MassHealth applicant or recipient who elects to apply for these benefits shall have his or her eligibility information and verifications used to initiate a simultaneous common application and that information shall be transmitted to the department of transitional assistance to initiate the application for benefits. The common application for benefits must be accepted with the voluntary consent of the MassHealth applicant or recipient and shall have no bearing on the MassHealth eligibility of the applicant or recipient. The department of transitional assistance shall promptly inform said applicant of the eligibility requirements and any additional verifications or obligations of the program or programs elected by the applicant. As information is shared between state agencies, protections will be put in place for all applicants and recipients.  The department shall create a standard for consumer rights that will include that a recipient must be told if information in her file has been used to deny or reduce benefits, have the right to know what data is being shared/matched and have the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information.  To further protect the recipient, the Commonwealth must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information, must limit access to data, must request recipient permission to match data and offer a remedy when a mistake has been made based on data matching".

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #659 to H4200

MassHealth Data Matching