Health coverage Mandate CMS: No Penalty for Signup To March 31 Q&A

NM CLP in the News "States see high interest in Medicaid coverage"

States see high interest in Medicaid coverage

By Jennifer Haberkorn

10/28/13 6:05 PM EDT

HealthCare.gov might be limping along to full viability, but Medicaid is flying off the shelves.
New Medicaid enrollment is far outpacing new insurance customers under Obamacare so far, a subtle sign that the program could play a greater role in the law’s coverage expansion than first anticipated. Some people are signing up for the Medicaid expansion created by the president’s health law. Others were already eligible for their state’s current Medicaid program but until this outreach campaign about health coverage they had never signed up.

In Washington state, for instance, the overwhelming number of people signing up for health coverage are eligible for Medicaid, state figures show. Of the 35,528 state residents who had signed up in the first three weeks of enrollment, 55 percent were part of the Medicaid expansion population, and 32 percent were eligible for the state’s existing Medicaid program. Only 13 percent signed up for a new private insurance plan.

In Kentucky, another state running its own exchange, 26,174 people had enrolled in new coverage as of Thursday. Four out of five had enrolled in Medicaid.

So far, only a few states have released enrollment figures. And the federal government doesn’t plan to put out figures for the 36 states where they are running the exchanges until next month. But the figures in a few states could be emblematic of a national trend.

There are several reasons for the spurt of Medicaid coverage, much of which health policy experts had expected.

Health officials were always expecting the massive media attention on Obamacare to spur people who were eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled to sign up — a phenomenon dubbed the “woodwork” effort (as in crawling out of the woodwork), or the friendlier term “welcome mat” effect. For those people, coverage could start as soon as the state approves the application. For expanded Medicaid and the private health insurance plans on the exchange, the start date for coverage is Jan. 1.

New Mexico just put its Medicaid application online as part of the expansion, and that’s made the sign-up process easier for some people.

“The big change for us is that we now have an online application for Medicaid,” said Sovereign Hager, a staff attorney at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. She’s personally helped about five or six people through the sign-up process but hasn’t heard of many people in New Mexico getting through the troubled federal HealthCare.gov.

Medicaid also doesn’t have a premium — and is the only option for people who are eligible. Customers shopping for private plans onHealthCare.gov — if they can get through — likely have multiple plans to choose from. And they have premiums to pay in nearly all cases, even if they get federal subsidies.

“This is not really a surprise, but free is easier to sell than low-cost — and Medicaid enrollment is free,” said Alan Weil, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy. “It’s a lot easier to close the deal if at the end of the process, you can offer someone a product without a premium — even if the exchange premium is highly subsidized.”

The Medicaid population — even the Medicaid expansion population — is also a known entity in most states. Many people who will be eligible for the Medicaid expansion are already enrolled in other state safety net programs, or charity-care programs at hospitals. That means their contact information is likely already in a database — and many institutions have already sent information about how to enroll in Medicaid.

Medicaid, while booming in some areas, isn’t without its own enrollment troubles.
The 36 states using the federal insurance exchange won’t begin receiving Medicaid applications on Nov. 1, according to the National Association of Medicaid Directors. After one earlier delay, the exchange was supposed to start sending the data this week, but technical problems forced another indefinite delay.

“The agency is now prepared to start testing this function with any state Medicaid agency that is ready,” the group’s weekly report said, “but did not give a new target date for transfers to begin.”
The delay could further complicate the enrollment process because many states are allowed 45 days to review applications before determining eligibility.

Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.

To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/go/?id=27311

News Article "Under Bush, Republicans Vigorously Defended Health Care Reform Despite Serious Glitches"

Under Bush, Republicans Vigorously Defended Health Care Reform Despite Serious Glitches

By Igor Volsky on October 24, 2013 at 8:49 am

Millions of Americans try to enroll in health care benefits during the first days of a new government health care program. They rely on indispensable government website that had been “pitched as a high-tech way” to sort through available coverage options. They’re encountering countless glitches and technical errors: the website freezes, displays incorrect plan information and sends insurers erroneous reports.

Administration officials — clearly caught off guard by the surge of technical difficulties — respond to “tens of thousands of complaints” from angry beneficiaries and promise to “fix every problem as quickly possible.”

This sounds like the familiar story of the last few days of the Obama administration’s rollout of the exchanges. But, actually, those quotes, and that scenario, are taken from the Bush administration’s efforts to implement the Medicare prescription drug benefit in 2005 and 2006.

Not only was Bush’s rollout “anything but smooth,” but administration officials had “some trouble getting the [online] tool up and running” and had to delay its debut for weeks. What’s more, computer glitches caused low-income beneficiaries to go without needed medications and sent pharmacies the wrong drug information. Before it was all resolved, Dr. Mark McClellan, Bush’s head of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), appeared at hearings before the House Committee On Energy And Commerce, laying out the flaws in the law’s implementation and detailing how the administration would address them.

As the House Energy and Commerce Committee holds its first hearing on the implementation of the the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, it’s worth noting that some of the very same Republicans who are lashing out against Obamacare, arguing that the botched rollout is proof that the government cannot implement effectively and should repeal the law entirely, gave the Bush administration a pass and urged Americans not to pre-judge such a complicated process. At least four of the Republicans still on the committee had argued that early implementation hurdles should not taint the entirety of reform:

REP. JOE BARTON (R-TX): “This is a huge undertaking and there are going to be glitches. My goal is the same as yours: Get rid of the glitches. The committee will work closely with yourself and Dr. Mark McClellan at CMS to get problems noticed and solved.” [Barton Statement via Archive.org, 2/15/2006]

REP. TIM MURPHY (R-PA): “Any time something is new, there is going to be some glitches. All of us, when our children were new, well, we knew as parents we didn’t exactly know everything we were doing and we had a foul-up or two, but we persevered and our children turned out well. No matter what one does in life, when it is something new in learning the ropes of it, it is going to take a little adjustment.” [Murphy Floor Speech via Congressional Record, 4/6/2006]

REP. MICHAEL BURGESS (R-TX): “We can’t undo the past, but certainly they can make the argument that we are having this hearing a month late and perhaps we are, but the reality is the prescription drug benefit is 40 years late and seniors who signed up for Medicare those first days back in 1965 when they were 65 years of age are now 106 years of age waiting for that prescription drug benefit, so I hope it doesn’t take us that long to get this right and I don’t believe that it will. And I do believe that fundamentally it is a good plan.” [“Medicare Part D: Implementation of the New Drug Benefit,” 3/1/2006]

REP. PHIL GINGREY (R-GA): “I delivered 5,200 babies, but this may be the best delivery that I have ever been a part of, Mr. Speaker, and that is delivering, as I say, on a promise made by former Congresses and other Presidents over the 45-year history of the Medicare program, which was introduced in 1965 with no prescription drug benefit. And what we have done here is add part D, the ‘D’ for ‘drug’ or, if you want, the ‘delivery’ that we have finally provided to our American seniors.” [Gingrey Floor Speech via Congressional Record, 4/6/06]

Ultimately, the Bush administration fixed the law’s technical glitches, but more than half of the beneficiaries who ended up signing up for insurance didn’t do so until after the first of the year. Significantly, they signed up for coverage despite the Bush administration’s well-publicized initial glitches in extending coverage to low-income beneficiaries. Whereas only 21 percent of seniors had a favorable impression of the law and 66 percent didn’t know what was in it in April of 2005, by November of 2006, “half of the seniors polled said the program was working well or that just minor changes were needed.”

Bridge Project provided research assistance for this post.

Senator Begich Introduces Legislation to Streamline the Definition of Indian in the Affordable Care Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Contact: Caitrin Shuy at cshuy@nihb.org or 202-374-9966

 

Senator Begich Introduces Legislation to Streamline the Definition of Indian in the Affordable Care Act

 

 

On October 16, 2013, Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) with Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), Senator Al Franken (D-MN), and Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) introduced a bill (S.1575) that would streamline the Definition of Indian in the Affordable Care Act.  This is an important first step in ensuring that all American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) receive the benefits and protections intended for them in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

 

The "Definitions of Indian" in the ACA are not consistent with the definitions already used by the Indian Health Service (IHS), Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) for services provided to American Indians and Alaska Natives.  The ACA definitions, which currently require that a person is a member of a federally recognized Tribe or an Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) corporation, are narrower than those used by IHS, Medicaid and CHIP, thereby leaving out a sizeable population of AI/ANs that the ACA was intended to benefit and protect. 

 

National Indian Health Board Chair Cathy Abramson said, "On behalf of the 566 Tribal nations we serve, the National Indian Health Board would like to express the deepest gratitude to Senators Begich and Baucus for introducing this important legislation. This bill will help to create parity in the American Indian and Alaska Native community with respect to provisions contained in the Affordable Care Act.  If enacted, this measure will ensure that everyone is eligible to receive the protections and benefits that are designed to enhance health care access for all American Indians and Alaska Natives."

 

Unless the definition of Indian in the ACA is changed, many AI/ANs will not be eligible for the special protections and benefits intended for them in the law.  These benefits include cost-sharing and monthly enrollment benefits.  This bill will also create statutory language to guarantee that AI/ANs are not subjected to tax penalties for not having insurance, even though they are eligible for Indian health care programs.  

 

###

Free Legal Fair Raymond G Sanchez Community Center in Albuquerque Medicaid/NMHIX enrollment

Free Legal Fair  and Medicaid Enrollment!

Free legal services for low income people and families Divorce/Custody/Support Public Benefits     Probate Guardianships  Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Creditor/Debtor Landlord/Tenant Immigration Worker's Compensation  First-come, first-served basis - Interpreters and bilingual attorneys available* -   *For Vietnamese interpreter services, Please RSVP to New Mexico Asian Family Center (NMAFC) at (505) 717-2877     On site Medicaid enrollment for children and adults    Required documents: Picture ID Birth certificate Proof of income for the most current month Written proof of pregnancy, if applicable Current insurance card, if any      Additionally, consumer-friendly resources on health care reform enrollment and insurance reform will be available.

When

Tuesday  OCT. 22, 2013  From 3pm to 6pm

Where

Raymond G. Sanchez  Community Center  9800 4th Street NW  Albuquerque, NM

Presented by the Second Judicial District Pro Bono Committee Medicaid Enrollment Services and Health Care Reform Materials Provided by Youth Development Inc., Southwest Women's Law Center, and NM Center on Law and Poverty

CQ Health Beat "Enrollment Deadline to Avoid Individual Mandate Fine is Feb. 15"

From the Center on Law and Poverty:

 

 

For all of you engaged in outreach activities, this is an important new deadline for getting enrolled. Maybe this will change as implementation moves forward, but for now it looks like the word. Has anyone heard differently?

 

 

Enrollment Deadline to Avoid Individual Mandate Fine is Feb. 15

By Rebecca Adams, CQ HealthBeat Associate Editor

The Obama administration said Wednesday that consumers need to enroll and pay their exchange coverage premiums by Feb. 15 in order to avoid an income tax penalty for not having insurance.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has repeatedly mentioned Dec. 15 as a key deadline for consumers who want their benefits to start Jan. 1. And she has stressed that the open enrollment period for the new marketplaces is March 31. But she has not emphasized that Feb. 15 is also a key date.

A short timeline on healthcare.gov does not mention February as a key month for implementation of the marketplaces under the law (PL 111-148, PL 111-152).

Since Sebelius has talked about March 31 as the end of open enrollment, many consumers may be under the impression that they would avoid a penalty if they enroll by then. But consumers need to sign up before Feb. 15 if they plan to send in a check by mail so the payment is processed by the deadline.

Even though open enrollment ends March 31, the law says anyone who goes without insurance for three consecutive months during 2014 is subject to a penalty. So someone who signs up for insurance after Feb. 15, wouldn’t have a policy in effect until April 1. That means he or she would then be subject to the fine because they were without insurance in January, February and March.

This detail was first reported by the Associated Press.

The shorter-than-commonly-realized time frame could put pressure on HHS officials to delay enforcement of the penalty for people who do not have coverage in 2014. Already, House Republicans have called for a year delay in the individual mandate, saying that it is only fair since the administration decided this summer to hold off for a year on enforcing the penalties for employers who don’t offer affordable coverage.

Even comedian Jon Stewart hammered Sebelius over the individual penalty when she appeared on The Daily Show this week. “If I’m an individual that doesn’t want it, it would be hard for me to look at big business getting a waiver and not having to do it, and me having to,” said Stewart, adding that opponents would think that individuals don’t get a waiver because they aren’t a strong lobbying force like employers are.

Sebelius never directly answered Stewart’s question.

An administration spokeswoman, who was asked if the administration will start highlighting the Feb. 15 date, pointed out language on the healthcare.gov website. It says: “If you enroll between the 1st and 15th day of the month and pay your premium, your coverage begins the first day of the next month. So if you enroll on February 10, 2014, your coverage begins March 1, 2014. If you enroll between the 16th and the last day of the month and pay your premium, your effective date of coverage will be the first day of the second following month. So if you enroll on February 16, 2014, your coverage starts on April 1, 2014.”

The website does not then clearly state that if someone’s coverage starts on April 1 they will be liable for a penalty.

The penalty that starts in 2014 will be 1 percent of someone’s income or $95, whichever is more. In 2016, the fine increases to 2.5 percent of income or $695 per person, whichever is higher.

The administration is providing a number of exemptions from the fine, including for religious reasons, if the coverage costs more than 8 percent of household income, or people are too poor to file a tax return. People who are illegal immigrants, in prison, or members of Native American Indian tribes also are exempt.

About 2 percent of Americans are expected to pay the penalty in the first year, administration officials have said.

Rebecca Adams can be reached at radams@cq.com.

Commentary on the NMHIX and its (non) involvement with NM tribes

Good Evening Everyone,
I wrote this commentary paper for the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee panel on the NM Health Insurance Exchange that was suppose to take place on Oct 4th in Hobbs NM.  Unfortunately this panel was cancelled so I have decided post this commentary here instead.  When I started to write this commentary the first draft was very inclusive and was around ten pages long.  I condensed it to two for the legislature and this is the result.  I will post the ten page version when I complete it.

 

 

 

Comments for the Legislative Health and Human Services

NM Health Insurance Exchange and Native Americans

I’d like to thank the Committee chair for giving me the opportunity to provide commentary on this important issue.  My name is Erik Lujan, I am a consumer advocate for the New Mexico Indian council on Aging, and for the last four years I have been following and participating in Health care reform and PPACA Implementation here in NM. 

 For the purpose of this commentary I would point out that in NM we have the State Tribal consultation collaboration and Communication Act that is the basis for how State agencies interact with the many Tribes, Nations and Pueblos. Included in the Act are the requirement for each state agency to develop a tribal consultation policy, hire a Native American Liaison. The Act also requires that State Agencies must consult tribal leaders when the agency is making a change in funding that will affect Native American communities, and individuals. The Act also elevated the Indian Affairs Department to a cabinet level state agency. 

Additionally, within the Legislation which established the Health Insurance Exchange, Senate bill 221, passed in 2013 there were several provision that were specific to Native Americans.  The NM Health Insurance Exchange (NM HIX) is required by law, to hire a Native American Liaison to assist the Executive board in outreach education and consultation with NM Tribes, Nations, and Pueblos.  Also required by law is the establishment of a Native American Advisory Committee composed of Native Americans representing communities on and off reservations.  The NM HIX also has the option to create a Native American Service Center, which is intended to provide a call center function for Native consumers, as well as technical assistance with eligibility and tribal enrollment verification.

There has not been any formal consultation between the state and Tribes regarding the NM HIX, the last scheduled consultation was set for April of 2011, this session was cancelled and never rescheduled. Since then the NM HIX has included Native Americans in none informal workgroups and committees and taskforces:

Native American Workgroup, the office of Health Care Reform (OHCR) established a task force to begin developing policy and guidelines in anticipation of the passage of legislation creating a state based health insurance exchange. The Native American Workgroup (NAWG) was created to provide guidance and insight into how the NM HIX would interact with NM’s tribes Nations and Pueblos. The NAWG worked topic such as: Job description/role of a Native American Liaison, consultation policies, creating a Native American Service Center and its functions, Tribal exemptions in the ACA, verification of Tribal enrollment eligibility for the HIX. The NAWG was composed of Advocates, healthcare providers, IHS and leaders. At each meeting it was clearly stated that the workgroup did not constitute tribal consultation and that the state needed to formally consult with tribes on the activities of the Human Services Department Office of Health Care Reform and the HIX

Native American Listening Session, the NM HIX Native American Standing committee, in order to address NA concerns instructed Mike Nunez, the Interim CEO, of the HIX to hold a listening session in order to solicit comments on what the needs of tribes were when it came to development and implementation of the HIX. Over 70 NA representatives participated in this session and the message was loud and clear. First Consultation with Tribes needs to happen as soon as possible, second the HIX needed to hire multiple Tribal liaisons, and third the Native American Advisory committee must be convened as soon as possible.

Interim Native American Advisory Committee- following up on a suggestion that came out of the listening session an interim advisory committee made up of members of the previous Native American Work group was convened to develop a communication policy for the HIX, this effort was replaced with the hiring of a Native American Consultant.

At an emergency session of the HIX board it was announced that Poston and Associates was hired to help the board and staff to create a tribal communication collaboration policy and facilitate outreach and education with Tribes.  Also Scot Atole (Jicarilla Apache) was hired as a Native American Coordinator.  When I asked what the selection process was to hire Poston and Associates, Mike Nunez relied that there was no RFP and that selection was made by Staff of the HIX. 

Native American communication collaboration session, on October 2, 2013 another listening/communication session was held with the intent to solicit guidance on developing consultation policy, development of a Native American service Center, Marketing best practices.

Throughout the development of the NM HIX there have been many instance where Tribes have unanimously state the same issues that needed to be addressed by the HIX: Meaningful Tribal Consultation, hiring of a Tribal Liaison or multiple Liaisons, and establishing a Native American Advisory committee, all of which are mandated by the law governing the HIX.  These Three task have yet to be completed.

It has been established that the NM HIX is a Quazi Governmental non-profit organization and therefore is not subject to the State Tribal Consultation Collaboration and Communication Act. This may be the case but the Act clearly states that any time and Agency applies for or changes funding that will directly affect Tribal individual’s communities and Tribes, there agency is obligated to hold formal consultation with NM Tribes Nations and Pueblos in order to inform them of the changes.  While the NM HIX is a quazi- governmental organization the NM Human Services Department, the umbrella organization to the NM HIX, was the cabinet level state agency that applied for the original Level one establishment grant of $34 million and the secondary grant of $8 million. Since applying for and receiving the grant funding HSD has held on to that funding.  The HSD Secretary Squire should be aware of the obligation to consult with Tribes given the recent consultation sessions with the Medicaid program.

From my point of view the NM HIX has had many opportunities to address Native American issues, and has at times delayed, and not fully taken advantage of the work and resources available.   

Respectfully,

 Erik Lujan

Consumer Advocate/Policy Analyst
NMICoA Health Committee
(505) 280-2811
elujan78@gmail.com

Clarification on Medicaid Expansion from Income Support Division (ISD)

Events Calender for Exchange outeach (SHOP)

ABQ Journal Article "Critics miss the point of Affordable Care Act"

For Complete Article go to:

http://www.abqjournal.com/272290/news/critics-miss-the-point-of-affordable-care-act.html

Critics miss the point of Affordable Care Act

By Winthrop Quigley / Journal Staff Writer | October 1, 2013

 

Wealthy opponents of the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – in the form of the Club for Growth have launched some absurd television commercials featuring Uncle Sam replacing the kindly family doctor to examine the most private part of a patient’s anatomy. The message is that the government wants to take over your health care.

There are many Americans who would love to see a real government takeover by eliminating the private, for-profit insurance industry and replacing it with that radical, socialistic, alien form of health care finance known as … Medicare.

As it happens, Obamacare has very little to do with health and everything to do with finance. It is an attempt to rescue the nation’s for-profit health-care financing system from itself.

The United States has a lot of experience with rescuing elements of capitalism from capitalism’s strange propensity to self-destruct.

The Federal Reserve System was created so J.P. Morgan and his rich friends no longer had to bail out the nation’s banking system in times of financial panic, which is what they did in 1907.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. came about when massive bank failures in the 1930s wiped out the wealth of millions of middle-class families.

More recently, President George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson persuaded Congress to rescue the global financial system with an unprecedented bank bailout through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, and the nationalization of much of our mortgage-financing institutions.

Unlike the financial panics of 1907, 1929 and 2008, the health care finance crisis occurred in slow motion. The nation embarked on its approach to paying for health care quite by accident.

The government imposed wage and price controls during World War II. With so many working-age men off to war, companies were desperate for labor. They couldn’t offer better wages to compete for workers, so they started offering benefits instead, among them health insurance.

Now, almost 70 years since the end of World War II, we have a system that leaves about 20 percent of our citizens without a way to pay for health care, consumes nearly 20 percent of our gross domestic product, is responsible for much of the government’s budget trouble, and produces medical results that are inferior to those of the nations with which we compete in the global economy.

It is a system that often fails to deliver the healthy, productive workforce that employers thought they were getting when they agreed to pay for health insurance. It is a system that creates incentives for medical providers to waste billions of dollars a year. It is a system that discourages the most economically efficient use of human capital because too many workers remain in jobs they don’t want rather than lose their health insurance.

That is a market failure by anyone’s definition.

Health Advocates Discussion on Medicaid Expansion enrollment

Medicaid Expansion

People can begin applying for Medicaid on 10/1.  The YES NM Portal will be up and running.  According to federal regulations, between 10/1 and 12/31, they are required to assess eligibility on current or "legacy" eligibility.  The feds do not want to assume someone is eligible for Expansion because they pay 100% of the cost.

She described several scenarios:

Scenario 1:  We know the individual is eligible for Expansion and they come in on 10/2 to apply.  The average time to process an application is 15 days, but they have 45 days.  If they determine they are not eligible for current or "legacy", under regulation, they have to send a denial letter.  The letter says that the consumer will be assessed for eligibility for Medicaid expansion and they will be notified.  HSD will run those assessments in November.  The consumer will get a 2nd letter indicating they will be eligible for Expansion beginning January 1.  They will be run through the Aspen system in December and get a 3rd letter - officially notifies them of coverage beginning January 1.  She said she'd provide a copy of the denial letter so we can prepare consumers for this.

Scenario 2:  The individual applies for Medicaid, but they are not eligible for Expansion.  They are a candidate for the Exchange.  The consumer is sent a notice that explains this and their application is forwarded to the FFM.  There is no need to apply again.  <I'm sorry - I'm unclear what happens here on our end.>

Scenario 3:  The individual applies through the Exchange.  The Exchange determines eligibility.  If eligible for Medicaid, the Exchange sends a notice to the consumer.  They will send the account to HSD on 11/1.  They can’t do anything until 11/1.  On 11/18, Aspen will be able to process the info that the feds send HSD and properly process them.  

No one will have to reapply in January.  You are supposed to notify ISD if your income changes, but they don't follow up or make sure about this.  She was adamant, "No one will have to reapply or verify income again."

She said that anyone who is in Category 29 Family Planning will automatically transition over to Medicaid Expansion in January.  Native Americans will roll over as Medicaid Exempt.

Based on this conversation with her, we recommend that anyone applying in October should apply for Category 29.  

Individuals currently enrolled in SCI will roll over into Medicaid Exempt.   They will identify Native Americans as best they can using their system.

PE/MOSAA

Based on outcomes of tribal consultation, Julie went to Secretary Squier and asked that an exception be made for I/T/s to do PE for adult expansion and the Secretary agreed to do this.  Thinks they can do the same for the Urban Indian Health Program.  Should provide a notice of this shortly.

YES NM

YES NM will be up and running on October 1.   http://www.yes.state.nm.us/

You can apply just for Medicaid using YES NM.   Once the application is completed it’s sent electronically to ISD.  You may need to scan and upload documentation, e.g. utility bills.  Required documents will be posted on the site.

People will still be able to apply using a paper application and also by phone.  There will be a Medicaid Expansion hotline to do this, but they're not sure how the telephone application will work.

Las Crusas Sun Article "Medicaid agency seeks less money in New Mexico next year"

Medicaid agency seeks less money in New Mexico next year
By Barry Massey
Associated Press

Posted:   09/24/2013 06:09:16 PM MDT

 

SANTA FE >> The agency managing New Mexico's largest health care program is asking for less -- not more -- state money to operate in the upcoming budget year.

 

It's the first time in more than a decade the Human Services Department isn't seeking an increase in state aid for Medicaid, which provides health care for a fourth of New Mexico's population.

Agency officials said a reduction is possible in part because of low price inflation, more available federal money and lower usage of services by Medicaid recipients.

 

"I hope people see it as a good thing. It's not as though we're cutting services or changing anything. It's really just something that we've been able to manage a little bit differently," said Deputy Secretary Brent Earnest.

 

The department has requested about $1 billion in state money for Medicaid in the fiscal year that starts next July. That's nearly $19 million, or 1.8 percent, less than this year.

 

Agencies submitted budget requests to Gov. Susana Martinez's administration at the start of the month and those will be used to develop the governor's spending recommendations to the Legislature, which meets in January to approve a state budget for next year. Lawmakers also review the agency requests in making budget decisions.

 

The Medicaid agency's proposed budget reduction is notable because the state plans to expand the health care program starting in January. Nearly 90,000 uninsured New Mexicans are expected to enroll next year under terms of a federal health care overhaul championed by President Barack Obama.

The federal government will pick up the full costs of the expansion initially and that will gradually drop to 90 percent in 2020. The total costs of Medicaid -- federal and state spending -- are expected to increase by about $670 million next year because of the expansion, according to the Legislative Finance Committee.

 

For More visit:

 

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_24168045/medicaid-agency-seeks-less-money-new-mexico-next