New Medicaid Waiver is High Stakes for the State

According to a Health and Human Services official, if the Federal Government does not accept Michigan’s newly proposed waiver for the Healthy Michigan plan by December 31, the program could see its early demise. The law, which created the Healthy Michigan program in 2013, states that a second waiver from the federal government is required to either increase the cost enrollees can pay under the program or allow them to receive insurance under the federal healthcare exchange with the federal government. Currently the number of enrollees in the federal exchange program is nearing 300,000, with those citizens receiving an average annual tax subsidy of $273.

In order for the Healthy Michigan program, which has almost 600,000 people enrolled, to continue the current waiver must be approved. This is the second waiver required from the federal government, as an original waiver was required in order for the program to be implemented after the state legislature passed the statutes required to establish the program. The second waiver has a deadline of September 1, before which it must be submitted for approval.

The waiver is necessary as the state’s program can currently charge up to 3.5 percent of personal costs, well above the federal governments’ limit of 2 percent. Program policy division director for the Department of Health and Human Services, Jackie Prokop, said that as things stand currently, conversations with the federal government look good.

posted by PAA Online , Friday, June 26, 2015 10:05 AM
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