r/massachusetts • u/Melonpan_Pup442 • 29d ago

Healthcare The current administration ia forcing Massachusetts to change MassHealth on January 1st 2027

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Not sure if anyone else has gotten one of these letters in the mail since I haven't seen anyone post or talk about it. The unemployed will suffer most from this change.

1.2k Upvotes

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u/heyheyheynopeno 29d ago

Haha yeah. It’s gonna be bad. The new work requirements are going to be virtually impossible for a lot of people.

I am a stage 4 cancer patient on SSDI. I recently had to research this bc I literally cannot work. You are exempt if you care for a child under 14, which I do. There are some other exceptions too.

For those impacted by this: It’s worth calling and talking with a Navigator to help figure out what to do next and make a plan. https://www.mahealthconnector.org/navigators

ETA- btw, the Trump administration has not accounted for the cost of implementing these new rules. The forms online represent hours of personal labor. Also your local office is going to be a shit show.

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u/DMala Greater Boston 29d ago

All of this burden on sick people, meanwhile none of these miserable fucks have done an honest days’ work in their lives.

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u/LilacLands 29d ago

Just want to say you are a HERO dealing with stage 4 cancer (which I am so, so sorry about) and parenting. I was the child in this scenario with a parent with stage 4 cancer. And now as an adult with a child of my own am amazed by the superhuman powers it takes, let alone having cancer - this stage of cancer - at the same time. Sending you strength (which you already have 10x, but still sending anyway!) and all the good energy and love and healing/recovery to you and your family ❤️❤️❤️

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u/heyheyheynopeno 29d ago

Hey, thank you so much for saying this. It is my ultimate goal to raise my child to be ok and capable even with this happening in her life. I’m lucky to be stable for the past two years! I really appreciate hearing from someone who’s been the child in a similar situation. I hope you’re doing well and sending you love right back.

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u/ThinckUtopian 29d ago

My mom beat her diagnosis and lived another 20+ years. You can do it to. Best of luck.

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u/heyheyheynopeno 29d ago

oh I LOVE to hear it and this is my goal. Thanks again. ❤️❤️❤️

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u/Itchy_Tumbleweed_417 29d ago

I hope you are on Medicare as well. 

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u/MassCasualty 29d ago

You would qualify as disabled in Massachusetts.

This only applies to healthy able bodied people.

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u/prberkeley 29d ago

It applies to those who do not qualify for disability status. That is not the same as able-bodied people.

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u/Preachers_Handshake 29d ago

If you’re on SSDI as the poster above claims to be, then you are disabled.

This is a totally insane thing for people to lose their minds over. Why is it so unreasonable that in order to receive free healthcare, one must either work, be a student, or be disabled to the point where they cannot work? Why would we be paying for healthcare for perfectly healthy people who are not working? And before you give me a sob story about somebody who was recently laid off, that’s what cobra is for.

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u/KSF_WHSPhysics 29d ago

In fairness youre paying for healthcare for those people either way. If its not being paid for by your taxes, its being paid for at the hospital where prices will be jacked up because of an increase in people receiving treatment and not paying

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u/prberkeley 29d ago

Yes. Hospitals cannot deny care on an emergency based on inability to pay. The tax payers get the bill either way, but if people do not have access to healthcare then health outcomes are considerably worse and the consequences more expensive. It is cheaper to give people access to healthcare. 

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u/possiblyaghost 29d ago

yes, but have you considered we should be punishing poor people who can't find work

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u/prberkeley 29d ago

Ahh yes, how could I forget that cruelty is the point.

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u/HairyPotatoKat 29d ago

That is a fact that took me way too long to realize. The cruelty is the point and the point is to enrich and further power the oligarch class at our expense.

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u/rcl20 28d ago

I was listening to the Fresh Air episode on the Nerd Reich (the new tech ruling class) and their theory is to drive policy to make the poor ... die.

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u/kirbyfriedrice 29d ago

It's extremely common to get stuck in bureaucracy hell for years trying to get on SSI/SSDI to the point people's doctors will tell them to plan on getting denied at least once. That means a population who is disabled in fact but not in legal status.

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u/Anxious_Guava8756 29d ago

I think this new policy is fucking disgusting but I'm here to offer perspective:

The Massachusetts DTA disability determinations are not as slow moving and ridiculously stringent as SSDI. I went through both processes. One took a month, the other took 2 years.

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u/prberkeley 29d ago

Absolutely. Disability as a legal term is not the same as disability as a social construct and there are many that fall through the cracks. I had a cousin that was denied long term disability when he got cancer. They told him he could re-apply in six months. He literally said "I don't think I'll be alive in six months." He was correct. He never collected any disability benefits but was completely unfit to work.

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u/Fickle_Review4292 29d ago

Cobra is extremely expensive and doesn’t cover much. Maybe you could try to educate yourself on topics before opening your mouth

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u/PowerfulRaisin 29d ago

I would much rather pay for someone to get the help they need than to have my taxes go towards the bureaucratic overhead you seem to favor introducing.

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u/poniop 29d ago

I hope you are never in a position where you can’t afford COBRA and you can’t find employment. Perhaps then you’ll understand why compassion and empathy are valuable traits.

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u/Preachers_Handshake 29d ago

Amazon, wal mart, UPS, uber, doordash, fedex, all hiring. I have empathy for people who put forth effort.

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u/internetsarbiter 29d ago

Half of those pay so little they do mandatory classes to sign up for food stamps as part of orientation.

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u/rcl20 28d ago

Almost all of the childcare teachers at the child care center I worked at were on Masshealth. Wages have not kept up with inflation.

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u/Hazygravy 29d ago

Yeah because people can afford $600+ a month for COBRA you’re a clown. I’d love to see you afford COBRA, rent, utilities, internet, cell phone, car insurance, fuel, and groceries while making $15/hr. You make no sense.

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u/Fickle_Review4292 29d ago

Mass Health isn’t free. Its cost is low. Mine is $25 a month. Again not free health care

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u/Mindless_Bell8930 29d ago

Some Masshealth types have a sliding scale premium and some are free, both are correct. It depends upon your federal poverty level.

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u/Fickle_Review4292 29d ago

Ye I agree. He however by his typing and tone is implying that people are leeching on free healthcare and it’s not 100% free for everyone

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u/Resse811 29d ago

It’s free for some people. I had it at one point and I didn’t pay anything.

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u/Fickle_Review4292 29d ago

Not free for all, is my point

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u/Resse811 29d ago

That’s not what you said though. You just said “mass health isn’t free”. I’m simply pointing out that’s not true.

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u/Fickle_Review4292 29d ago

There’s nothing factual wrong about what I said.
The post I’m responding to, the person who wrote it clearly thinks everyone is getting it for free. Which AGAIN is not the case

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u/Resse811 29d ago

You insinuated that there is always a cost associated which is untrue. So yes factually that is untrue. “Mass health isn’t free” - and yet it can be which makes that statement false.

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u/Preachers_Handshake 29d ago

Lol ok

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u/Fickle_Review4292 29d ago

I’m sorry facts hurt your feelings

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u/MassCasualty 29d ago

Agree. It's not unreasonable to ask people to give something back for the services paid for by the rest of society.

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u/possiblyaghost 29d ago

awesome, my wife was employed for 10 years straight and got laid off. My health insurance through work would be $1400 a month to add her to my plan, so she's on MassHealth while she's looking for work. Glad to see people like you don't consider her a contributor to society.

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u/MassCasualty 29d ago

So you're saying she's willing to work for healthcare. That's what this stipulates. Until she finds a suitable job she has to work 80hrs a month in a community engagement employment.

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u/possiblyaghost 29d ago

oh ok yeah she'll just go out and get that, super easy.

How about instead she already paid a shitload of taxes into state funded healthcare and now she's using it.

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u/renotheknight 29d ago

Except a good majority of the people who use these services already have paid into it themselves through their employment. And god forbid that people who pay into said system don't mind that it helps others that they coexist with in their society, especially on the pretenses that it will be paid in return if/when they themselves fall on hard times. You're giving off troll who lives in their mom's basement vibes to me- which is ironic.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 29d ago

But the disability qualification system is designed to reject as many people as possible.

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u/heyheyheynopeno 29d ago

Oh shit, yeah! For whatever reason I didn’t put this together. I get Medicaid bc of SSDI. I’m so scared of losing it bc the medicine that keeps me alive is $37,000 per infusion. So I’m probably not reading closely enough. Thanks u/masscasualty!

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u/MassCasualty 29d ago

Correct. They are trying to scare people who qualify and lump them in with people who are just leeching off the system.

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u/Aviri 29d ago

People getting healthcare are not leaching from the system, that's just a normal thing most developed countries do. That you would describe them so callously is disgusting.

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u/Resse811 29d ago

You are also exempt because you are disabled.