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Committee hears resolution urging all-payer model to sustain crisis care; caregivers testify Medicaid cuts threaten rural care
Summary
SCR2, introduced March 13, urges the governor to direct Health and the Division of Insurance to convene stakeholders to recommend an all-payer funding model for crisis care. Caregivers from rural Alaska testified that funding gaps and proposed Medicaid cuts threaten local caregiving capacity and access to home/community care.
Senate Committee Resolution 2 (SCR2), introduced March 13 in the Alaska Senate Health and Social Services Committee, urges the governor to direct the Department of Health and the Division of Insurance to convene public and private payers, stakeholders and legislative leaders to develop recommendations for an all-payer model to sustain crisis-care services.
Committee aide Aria Wigan described crisis care as a model that includes a 24/7 crisis call center and crisis stabilization services and said the crisis call line launched in Alaska in July 2022. Wigan told the committee that long-term sustainability of the service is threatened by funding gaps and administrative barriers, and that SCR2 seeks an all-payer approach to create a stable funding model.
Invited testimony came from caregivers who said cuts to Medicaid or unstable funding would force Alaskans — particularly in rural communities — out of their homes to get care. Melanie Sugunik (self-identified from the Native Village of Unalakleet) described caregiving shortages in her region and pleaded for Medicaid support so elders and disabled residents can remain in their communities: “Without caregivers, without Medicaid, that choice is being taken away.” Evelyn McNamee, a caregiver in Wasilla and a retired RN, told the committee that clients fear losing access to care if cuts proceed and that caregivers themselves face income insecurity that affects care quality.
Committee members said SCR2 connects to other Medicaid and waiver policy work; the chair noted the resolution mentions the “section 1115 behavioral health and substance use disorder waiver.” The committee took invited testimony but set the resolution aside for a later date and said it would reopen public testimony when it returns.
Actions and procedural history: SCR2 was introduced for invited testimony; no committee vote was taken. The committee accepted invited testimony and then set the resolution aside to be taken up at a future meeting.
