Governor Maura Healey (D) signed a $56.2 billion FY2024 budget bill, which includes funding for an actuarial study on a statewide long-term care insurance program in connection with H. 652, which is pending in the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs. As previously reported, H. 652, would establish a special commission to study and make recommendations to establish a statewide long-term care insurance program and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to produce an actuarial report of the recommendations made by the commission. The Committee has held one hearing on the bill and is expected to take it up again in this Fall.
There is a potential conflict regarding the delivery date of the actuarial report that will need to be remedied. The bill requires the report to be delivered no later than two years after the effective date of the Act, which projects out to possibly Sept 1, 2025. The budget appropriation requires the report to be delivered no later than 270 days after the effective date of the budget, which will project to around May 1, 2024 (which may be even before H. 652 passes).
Here is the MA text of the budget item, which is number 4000-0300:
provided further, that not less than $500,000 shall be expended for a contracted independent study for actuarial modeling of public, private and public-private hybrid long-term care services and supports financing options to help individuals prepare for, access and afford such services; provided further, that the study shall include, but not be limited to: (aa) an analysis of public and private long-term care financing programs that exist in the commonwealth, the participation rates for those programs and any clear gaps that exist including, but not limited to, gaps in coverage, affordability, participation and any factors relevant to the design of a public program; (bb) modeling of 3 public long-term care insurance programs funded through a payroll deduction, including a front-end, limited duration program, a limited duration, back-end catastrophic program and an unlimited duration program; provided further, that key modeling outputs shall include estimated program participation rates, program costs, the distribution of program benefits, the impact on Medicaid expenditures and any financial and legal risks to the commonwealth; provided further, that sensitivity analysis on key program parameters shall be completed and include daily benefit amounts, coverage duration, benefit increase options, form of benefit and premium levels; and (cc) modeling the impact of tax alternatives and other incentives for the purchase of private long-term care insurance on take-up rates in the commonwealth; provided further, that key outputs shall include the impact on insurance take-up rates, the sociodemographic profile of individuals projected to purchase long-term care insurance, program costs and the impact on Medicaid expenditures; and provided further, that the actuarial analysis shall be submitted to the executive office of health and human services, the house and senate committees on ways and means, the clerks of the senate and house of representatives and the joint committee on elder affairs not later than 270 days after the effective date of this act.