Fair Hearing Appeal Representation
We specialize in representing clients at administrative Fair Hearing appeals before the MassHealth Board of Hearings.
If you have received a MassHealth notice denying, delaying, or terminating your benefits, or otherwise failing to grant you the benefits you need, call us at 866-406-8582 or send us an email to obtain us as representation at an appeal. Please note that depending upon the nature of the MassHealth notice, you may have as short as just 14 days to file a request for Fair Hearing so your immediate action is required to preserve your appeal rights. In most cases, acting timely and working with an expert may prevent the need to appeal at all, but if that is not possible, we can help.
It is a common misperception that the Board of Hearings always sides with MassHealth. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the last 15 years, we have built an extraordinary track record of success before the Board of Hearings. For this reason, other attorneys and professionals refer challenging appeal cases to us.
We succeed because we treat your appeal as though we are preparing for trial.
Consider The Following Sample Of Recent Victories
Case #1: MassHealth refused to respect a Probate Court judgment awarding a former stay-at-home mother with a small social security check the right to her nursing home spouse’s monthly income.
Result: Victory for our client – The Hearing Officer ordered MassHealth to honor the Probate Court’s judgment, thereby ensuring our client’s future financial stability.
Case #2: MassHealth imposed a disqualifying transfer penalty for $104,000 of alleged gifts made by an elderly man during the five-year look back period.
Result: Victory for our client – The Hearing Officer ruled that none of the gifts were disqualifying and ordered MassHealth to commence benefits without delay, thus protecting our client’s health and safety.
Case #3: MassHealth treated the family home, which was owned in an irrevocable trust, as countable to an elderly couple thereby resulting in a MassHealth denial notice.
Result: Victory for our client – The Hearing Officer agreed with our argument that the irrevocable trust assets were not available or countable to our clients and ordered MassHealth to disregard the trust assets.
Case #4: MassHealth counted a home owned in a nominee trust (realty trust) towards our client’s $2,000 asset limit, despite the trust limiting her ownership interest to a “life interest” only and her children owning the “remainder” interest.
Result: Victory for our client – The Hearing Officer found that the house and life estate interest was non-countable and ordered MassHealth to commence benefits without regard to the home or trust value.
Case #5: MassHealth refused to allow a disabled stay-at-home spouse to draw on her nursing home spouse’s monthly income to pay the monthly Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) mortgage on their long-time marital home on the basis that the HELOC was not a “mortgage” in the context of MassHealth regulations.
Result: Victory for our client – The Hearing Officer awarded our client access to her spouse’s monthly income to pay the full monthly HELOC balance, thereby allowing her to avoid foreclosure and maintain her home and financial stability for her own future.