SR 19-06 Dated 01/19

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION – DIVISION OF ECONOMIC AND HOUSING STABILITY (DEHS)

SUMMARY

This SR releases policy regarding the Granite Advantage Health Care Program (Granite Advantage) to replace the New Hampshire Health Protection Program (NHHPP/NHHPP-M) and Premium Assistance Program (PAP) including:

This SR releases Phase 1 of policy related to the implementation of Granite Advantage. Policy regarding community engagement and its start date will be released in subsequent SRs.

POLICY

Retroactive Eligibility

Granite Advantage does not include retroactive eligibility. However, Granite Advantage recipients can get retroactive eligibility if they would have been eligible under another category such as New Hampshire Health Protection Program (NHHPP/NHHPP-M. Because NHHPP is ending on December 31, 2018 and retroactive eligibility is limited to 3 months preceding application, any newly eligible adult applying for assistance after March 31, 2019 will not be eligible for retroactive assistance from NHHPP. NHHPP retroactive eligibility will only be available for periods that NHHPP was still available.

Example 1: A newly eligible adult applies for assistance and retroactive assistance on January 1, 2019. The newly eligible adult is only eligible under the NHHPP/Granite Advantage category. The three months preceding the January 1 application date (October 1 – December 31) are entirely covered by NHHPP so the recipient would receive retroactive NHHPP for all of October, November, and December 2018.

Example 2: A newly eligible adult applies for assistance and retroactive assistance on February 15, 2019. The newly eligible adult is only eligible adult under the NHHPP/Granite Advantage category. The adult will be retroactively eligible for NHHPP for November 15 through December 31 but not for January 1 through February 14, because the adult would not be retroactively eligible under Granite Advantage.

Note: A Granite Advantage recipient may still receive retroactive eligibility after March 31, if the recipient would have been retroactively eligible under another category. For example, a woman who recently gave birth could apply for and start receiving Granite Advantage and get retroactive eligibility under the pregnant women category.

NH Medicaid Care Management (MCM)

Granite advantage recipients will have to enroll in a New Hampshire Managed Care Organization (MCO) to receive care.

NEW HEIGHTS & NH EASY SYSTEMS PROCEDURES AND IMPLEMENTATION

New HEIGHTS has not been programmed to automatically include children and adults who have parental control over minor children, such as a guardian, in the same SNAP household. Whenever a minor child and adult who has parental control over the minor child live together, workers must select ‘Yes’ in response to ‘Prepares and Purchases Meals Jointly’ regardless of whether the child and adult with parental control actually purchase and prepare food together.

DESCRIPTION OF REVISIONS MADE TO FORMS

Application for Assistance

BFA Form 800, Application for Assistance, was edited to change New Hampshire Health Protection Program to Granite Advantage Health Care Program. Additionally a statement of understanding that unemployed NHHPP recipients are required to contact NHES for help finding employment was removed from BFA Form 800 and BFA Form 811S Statements of Understanding.

The forms are available electronically, for Department staff only, in the Family Services Folder on the N Drive. Current versions of BFA Form 800, 811R, and 811S should be used until supplies are exhausted. BFA Form 800, 811R, and 811S can be ordered using current forms reordering procedures, vie the Quarterly Forms Order (QFO). The translated versions have been updated accordingly.

POLICY MANUAL REVISIONS

Revised Medical Assistance Manual Topics

Introduction

Section 175.01                Inmates With an Approaching Release Date

Section 177.01                MAGI Related Coverage Groups Eligible for PE

PART 230                        GRANITE ADVANTAGE HEALTH CARE PROGRAM (GRANITE ADVANTAGE)

Section 230.01                Granite Advantage Eligibility Criteria

Section 230.13                Verification: Granite Advantage

Section 230.15                Termination of Granite Advantage

PART 265                        MEDICALLY NEEDY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE

Section 305.07                Medical Assistance: Inmates

Section 601                     Table G: PIL, Granite Advantage, EMA, CM, CSD, Pregnant Women MA, FPEC MA, and Expanded CM

Obsoleted Medical Assistance Manual Topics

Section 230.03                 NHHPP - Medically Frail

Section 230.05                 NHHPP/NHHPP-M: Referral to NH Employment Security (NHES)

Section 230.07                 NHHPP/NHHPP-M: Employer Sponsored Insurance (ESI) and the NH Health Insurance Premium Payment (NH HIPP) Program

Section 230.09                 NHHPP/NHHPP-M: Marketplace Premium Assistance Program

Section 230.11                 NHHPP/NHHPP-M: Coverage Under the Alternative Benefit Plan (ABP)

IMPLEMENTATION

The policies in this SR are effective January 1, 2019.

The forms are available electronically, for Department staff only, in the Family Services Folder on the N Drive. Current versions of BFA Form 800, 811R, and 811S should be used until supplies are exhausted. BFA Form 800, 811R, and 811S can be ordered using current forms reordering procedures, vie the Quarterly Forms Order (QFO). The translated versions have been updated accordingly.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

No special client notification is planned or needed for this phase of Granite Advantage implementation. More client notices are planned for other aspects of the Granite Advantage program to be implemented later.

TRAINING

No special training is planned or needed for this phase of Granite Advantage implementation. More trainings are planned for other aspects of Granite Advantage to be implemented later.

FORMS MANUAL POSTING INSTRUCTIONS

DISPOSITION

This SR may be destroyed or deleted after its contents have been noted and the revised manual topics released by this SR have been posted to the On-line manuals.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for BFA policy releases. This SR, and revised On-Line Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at www.dhhs.nh.gov/DFA/publications.htm, effective January 2, 2019 Additionally, this SR, and printed pages with posting instructions, will be distributed under separate cover to all internal hard copy holders of the Medical Assistance Manual.

BFA/BDC:s