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Senate expands Medicaid task force, adds members and $150,000 for staffing
Summary
Lawmakers approved a substitute to expand the privately owned health-care organization task force to include additional legislative members, extend its term, and appropriate $150,000 for staffing. Supporters said extra time and resources are needed to study Medicaid; some senators worried the issue could be diluted.
Senators approved a first substitute to Senate Bill 152 that amends the privately owned health-care organization task force to add additional legislators from both chambers and parties, extend the task force through 2007, and appropriate $150,000 to the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel to staff the group.
Senator Kilpack, explaining the substitute, said the change "adds 1 member of the senate to that task force. It adds 1 member to the house ... it extends that task force through the '07 year as well as it appropriates an additional hundred and $50,000, for the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel to pay for staffing the task force." Proponents argued the extra year and funding will allow members to be brought up to speed and to coordinate with pending federal work on Medicaid.
Some senators raised concerns that folding Medicaid work into an existing private health-care task force could dilute focus. "I hate to see it being diluted in any way," one senator said, urging a stand-alone Medicaid study. Other senators replied that the substitute increases capacity and resources to address Medicaid comprehensively, and that adding members from both parties preserves balance.
The Senate recorded 27 yes votes, 0 nays, with 2 absent and referred the substitute to the House for further action.
