Bill > S602

This bill establishes a hardship waiver for individuals receiving MassHealth, a state-funded health insurance program, who are residing in nursing homes and face ineligibility due to transferring assets. The waiver can be granted if denying MassHealth would cause the resident undue hardship, meaning their health or life would be endangered, or they would be deprived of necessities like food or shelter. This relief is available if all reasonable efforts to recover the transferred resources have failed, the recipient is unable or unwilling to return them, the nursing home has notified the resident of potential discharge due to non-payment, and no less expensive, non-institutional care is available to maintain the resident's well-being. The bill outlines specific criteria for determining endangerment, exhaustion of recovery attempts, and the unavailability of alternative care, and allows applications for hardship relief to be filed by the resident, their representative, family, or the nursing home with consent, with a decision required within fourteen days and an appeal process available.