◊ JOB MATCH
 

April 7, 2005

As the state considers how to cut $156 million out of its Medicaid program, Gov. Joe Manchin has been negotiating to get a waiver from federal rules that could allow West Virginia to redesign the program's entire health care delivery system.

Manchin has had several conversations with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and plans to meet with him after the legislative session ends this weekend, Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said Wednesday.

"All the state of West Virginia is asking for is the flexibility to care for the less fortunate people in our state and to make sure we have the resources,'' Ramsburg said.

"I'm not sure what other states are doing,'' Ramsburg said. "Our state has a number of vulnerable people on the edge of poverty. While we don't believe the federal government has any intention of putting policies in place that push people over that edge, in some cases that is what is happening. We are in search of some relief. They have been very open to discussing options with us.''

Medicaid pays more than 15 million claims a year.

West Virginia's Medicaid program faces a $156 million deficit because the number of participants and the cost of services are growing faster than the state's ability to pay.

Manchin and legislative leaders this week discussed trimming the program by reducing payments for inpatient hospital stays, doctors and other providers, lab work, pharmacy costs, nursing homes, group homes home health care and an elderly and disabled waiver. The cuts on a list released Wednesday by a legislator total $115.67 million.

National enrollment has increased by 40 percent over the past five years. President Bush and Congress are haggling over proposed cuts in overall federal Medicaid spending. The House of Representatives budget would cut up to $20 billion in Medicaid spending over the next five years, a 1 percent reduction that would more than double what Bush proposed. The Senate voted to restore all Medicaid funding.

"If the federal government is going to cut Medicaid, we need the flexibility to adapt,'' said Martha Walker, West Virginia's secretary of health and human resources.

Federal rules governing the Medicaid program have been imposed piecemeal over decades and there are so many restrictions and waivers from certain aspects of the rules that the program is difficult to efficiently administer, Walker said.

West Virginia might be able to help more people with less money if people who could afford to pay part of their health care did so on a sliding income scale, Walker said. Now people either qualify for Medicaid or they don't.

No one has decided what a redesigned program would be like, Walker said.

"Maybe it will never happen,'' she said of the rules waiver. "I always like to think about what can be. We're certainly going to ask for it.''

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Wednesday he was troubled by Manchin's efforts.

"Having watched over Medicaid like a hawk for decades, I am gravely concerned this deal could well result in the loss of health care benefits for tens of thousands of West Virginians and the loss of millions of federal Medicaid dollars,'' Rockefeller said.

In the meantime, the Department of Health and Human Resources has decided to take an extra 60 days to redo its Medicaid Title XIX Waiver program that provides services to 3,844 adults and children who otherwise would have to live in a residential care facility for the mentally retarded.

State officials say they are trying to trim that program's costs in ways that would have the least impact on clients, but families said the changes proposed last month would put many clients at risk of institutionalization, defeating the purpose of the program.

Walker said Wednesday that the agency is incorporating those public comments into a new document that it will put out for public comment again.

"We do listen,'' Walker said.
 

~*~  Contributions are NOT (yet) tax deductible.  ~*~

++  PRIVACY STATEMENT  ++

MRU WV will never share its members' personally-identifiable information (name, address, phone, or e-mail address) with any outside person or organization without express consent.

This page last updated Friday 17 June 2005