Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Health Care Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate Finance approves HHS backlog contractor and fee increases; committee debates Medicaid premiums and seeks monitoring reports
Summary
The Senate Finance Committee approved hiring a contractor to address HHS eligibility backlog with six-month reporting and approved fee adjustments expected to bring in about $800,000; the committee also approved a Medicaid-premium framework accompanied by six-month monitoring requirements.
The Senate Finance Committee approved a plan to authorize a contractor to address the Department of Health and Human Services’ eligibility backlog and added a reporting requirement, and it approved fee adjustments expected to bring in approximately $800,000. The committee also debated a proposal to impose premiums on certain Medicaid enrollees and added a monitoring requirement to track effects.
A sponsor said the contractor’s role will be limited to working on the backlog. A friendly amendment added a reporting requirement: the contractor must report progress every six months to the governor, the House speaker, the Senate president and the chairs of the two committees with jurisdiction. The committee approved item 1 as amended by voice vote.
On a separate item, a committee member moved and the committee approved fee changes that the mover said would bring in approximately $800,000. The motion passed by voice vote.
Committee members extensively debated a proposal to apply premiums to some Medicaid enrollees. Questions focused on how premiums would be calculated, whether premiums would apply to waiver services, how managed-care organizations and providers would implement collection, and whether the premiums would cause people to lose access to substance-use and mental-health treatment. Department representatives said their intent was to seek a waiver to implement premiums and to avoid adding cost-sharing where possible because of administrative and uncompensated-care concerns.
Several senators asked for and received a commitment to six-month reports to legislative leaders and committee chairs tracking premium collection, retention in coverage and any access effects; that monitoring requirement was included as a friendly amendment for the Medicaid-related motion that the committee approved.
One related item (a broader bill discussed later in the packet) was put on hold so sponsors could address coding and funding concerns raised by committee members.
Ending: The committee approved the backlog contractor with reporting, approved fee adjustments, added monitoring requirements to the Medicaid premium proposal, and left a related bill on hold for further negotiations.
