New Medicaid Expansion Bill Introduced
Legislation
was introduced this week to expand Medicaid coverage for Michigan citizens. The
proposal called for by Governor Snyder and built into his budget proposal is
100% funded by federal dollars and would add over 400,000 newly eligible people
to the program.
The
legislation provides individuals with income up to 133 percent of the federal
poverty level the choice of obtaining Medicaid coverage or private health
insurance. The program would be
available to qualified nondisabled adults between 21 and 65 years of age;
however, recipients would be prospectively limited to 48 months of coverage.
House
Bill 4714 requires the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) to
seek a waiver for the federal government to fully fund the expansion program.
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the federal government would fully
fund the Medicaid expansion from 2014-2017, but states would be required to pay
for 10 percent of it by 2020. House Bill 4714 stipulates the state would opt
out of the program if it is no longer 100 percent federally funded.
The bill would
also create health savings accounts requiring recipients to contribute up to 5
percent of their annual income to their coverage through co-pays, deductibles, premiums,
etc. Additionally, recipients would be ensured access to primary and preventive
care, incentives for healthy behavior would be created, the use of telemedicine
would be required, and abuse and fraud initiatives would be instituted.
House Bill
4714, introduced by Rep. Matt Lori (R-Constantine), was referred to the House
Committee on Michigan Competitiveness. It
is important to note that this legislation is vastly different from Gov.
Snyder’s Medicaid expansion proposal announced in February. Thus, the
Administration and legislative leaders will need to work together over the next
few weeks to finalize a Medicaid expansion proposal.
Meanwhile,
the Senate Republican Caucus spent a considerable amount of time on Thursday
discussing the MDCH budget and Medicaid reform at its retreat. Senate Majority
Leader Randy Richardville indicated the MDCH budget will be reported out by the
full Appropriations Committee next week and sent to the floor for debate and
final passage.