The Medicaid program in Massachusetts was a landmark law that was passed in 2006 under Governor Mitt Romney. This is the Medicaid program that was used as a model for the Affordable Care Act that was signed by President Barack Obama in 2010.
Medicaid is a public, or government run, form of health insurance. It is designed to cover individuals and families who are low income and who cannot afford to buy a health plan from a private insurance company. Medicaid is funded, in part, by the federal government. It is also funded by the government of an individual state.
In Massachusetts, the Medicaid program is called MassHealth. It is the Massachusetts Medicaid and CHIP combined program. CHIP stands for Children’s Health Insurance Program. It is for eligible low income and medium income residents of Massachusetts. There are three types of eligibility requirements for MassHealth: General Eligibility, Financial Eligibility, and Requirements for Disability Status.
To meet the General Eligibility Requirements, a person must be a Massachusetts resident. The person must also meet the Financial Eligibility requirements. The person must fit into one of the following categories: a family living with children under the age of 19, a child who is under the age of 19, an adult caretaker who is living with children under the age of 19, or a person who is under the age of 65.
Other categories include: a pregnant woman with or without children, a person who is long-term unemployed, a disabled person, a person who is HIV positive, an adult who works for a qualified employer, a woman with breast or cervical cancer, a person in need of long-term care, or a young adult who is under the age of 21 who was in the care and custody of the Department of Children and Families on his or her 18th birthday. This is a wider range of eligibility than most states choose to include.
Financial Eligibility requirements may include an asset limit for some people. Some assets that are not counted include: your house (if it is in Massachusetts), one car per household, funeral or burial arrangements, and more. It will count assets like additional vehicles, real estate, cash, the money in your bank account, and more.
There is a really easy to read chart on the Massachusetts website that you can use to figure out if you meet the income limitations. It takes into account the number of people in your family and the portion of MassHealth that you are covered by.
Image by Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the BPL on Flickr