Breaking big news (a short thread). NJ Medicaid put out this Monster MedComm yesterday: https://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dmahs/info/resources/medicaid/2020/20-04_COVID-19_Guidance.pdf

What is a MedComm? It’s a sub-regulatory guidance that the Medicaid Director puts out and expects the county boards to follow. I view it as arguably having the force of law, unless an actual law says otherwise.

This MedComm is about how Medicaid will behave during the COVID emergency. And there will be big big changes.

The biggest is about terminations. No more Medicaid terminations FOR ANY REASON during the emergency. Oh hello!

You sell your house and have more than $2000 in resources? Not terminated!!

You had ACA Medicaid and qualify for Medicare? Not terminated! (It’s your secondary insurance I guess)

You didn’t get redetermined yet? Or you had an Special Needs Trust where they were saying they might give you a hard time? Not terminated!!!

anyone who has dealt with Medicaid in NJ and the absolute nitpicking that the counties or ISS put you through will really appreciate this reprieve.

Now not being terminated doesn’t change things for estate recovery on the flip side. More Medicaid, more lien. Cc @xpostfactoid

For new applicants, there’s expanded self-attestation for income and resources. That’s great. Especially for certain proofs issues, like mystery deposits, that used to get you denied for failure to provide info.

Clinical eligibility for MLTSS is also on hiatus for the length of the emergency. That’s great for getting HCBS going.

My questions are: will the counties get the memo? They rarely do, but we’ll see. And, what kinds of proofs will they expect on the other side of this? Lastly, what if you want to be terminated because you don’t need Medicaid for insurance?

Of course the biggest question is how long the emergency will be, and who makes that call in the case of an 1135 waiver. I have no idea. /end thread/