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DHCF warns of sharp Alliance and Medicaid rollbacks without budget fixes
Summary
DHCF Director Wayne Turnage told the committee that recent Alliance and Medicaid eligibility changes produced steep enrollment declines and projected that without further policy or budget action, coverage for tens of thousands could be eliminated in out-year financial plans, with restoration costing roughly $980 million over four years before offsets.
Department of Healthcare Finance leadership told the Committee on Health that a suite of eligibility and programmatic changes to the Alliance and Medicaid programs produced notable enrollment declines and will create difficult budget trade-offs in FY28–FY29. Turnage said the financial plan shows elimination of some Alliance adult coverage in FY28 (about 24,000 people; $125.9M impact) and further reductions in FY29 affecting expanded Medicaid populations unless new funding is found.
Turnage walked the committee through a DHCF estimate for restoring eligibility and benefits: "it's gonna cost about 980,000,000 over the course of the 4 year financial plan," he said, acknowledging the administration also identified $259M in potential offsets. Council members pressed about how short-term contingency funds ($21M certified by the CFO) could be used to partially restore benefits; DHCF cautioned that selectively restoring Alliance benefits could create inequities with the Basic Health Plan and sought council guidance on options and trade-offs.
