Reports from Boston Indicators with analysis by Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts with Urban Institute data detail impacts of federal actions on those benefitting from MassHealth and SNAP.

While neither report is focused specifically on older adults, there are elements that impact some of the roughly 250,000 people age 60 and older  on SNAP in Massachusetts (as of May 2024) and another 225,000 older adults reliant on MassHealth.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield report found that the 6-month redetermination and work reporting requirement provisions in the federal H.R. 1 will result in an estimated 141,000 to 203,000 MassHealth members losing coverage. Most people losing MassHealth (between 110,000 and 180,000 people) would be uninsured over the year following implementation. The number of uninsured in Massachusetts – based on these provisions alone – would increase by more than fifty percent.

Meanwhile, MLRI and Boston indicators looked at the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) recently passed by Congress and signed by the President. Namely, the analysis digs into impacts of administrative burden and work requirements, among other provisions impacting immigrant communities. Their report finds that expanded Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWD) work requirements and narrowed exemptions, including for parents, could put at least 40,000 Greater Boston adults at risk of losing some or all of their benefits.

The ABAWD provisions do impact some older adults directly. As MLRI explains, under prior law, ABAWDs between the ages of 18 and 55 are required to work or participate in a training program for at least 20 hours per week, or 80 hours per month, unless they had an exemption such as a disability or were living with a child under 18. Crucially, looking for work does not count toward the ABAWDs requirement.

The OBBB significantly expands the reach of these stricter ABAWD rules. The age range now extends up to 65, and the parenting exemption is narrowed—only parents of children under 14 will now be exempt. Parents with children between the ages of 14 and 18 will now face the same rules as those without dependents.

MLRI adds that existing exemptions for veterans and homeless individuals have been eliminated entirely. In all, MLRI estimates these changes are expected to impact many SNAP recipients who are technically able-bodied but face barriers to stable employment, such as inconsistent work hours, caregiving obligations, or limited access to training programs.

The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative will be hosting our Statewide Network meeting on September 24th where MLRI will present on impacts of these policies on older adults. Registration is available here.

Further detail from Boston Indicators and MLRI is available here and with the BCBS of MA report available here.