The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration faces a tight deadline to get a Medicaid waiver as it looks to transition Medicaid to a managed care program.
The Florida House and Senate reached an eleventh hour compromise earlier this month on a revamp of the state's Medicaid program. With the legislative session winding down, both chambers agreed to move hundreds of thousand of Medicaid and CHIP members to a managed care programs by 2014. The plan creates 11 districts within the state and will allow managed care plans to compete for business in each of the districts and is modeled after an ongoing five-county project that began in 2006. But the AHCA must now put together a comprehensive plan and make a waiver application to HHS by August 1, while also providing enough time for public comment. Without a federal waiver, it is unlikely Florida could begin moving patients to the managed care program as outlined in the new law.
Hawaii will cut roughly 4,500 people from its state Medicaid rolls and will limit other benefits, as it looks to trim $75 million in spending for the program over the next two years. The cut of 4,500 people is the result of tightening eligibility requirements and removing health adults who earn more than $34,194 for a family of four. The old limit covered healthy adults up to an income of $51,420. In addition, benefits for healthy adults under 65 would be trimmed, with the new services imposing limits of 20 outpatient visits, 10 inpatient days and three outpatient surgical procedures a year. Medicaid services for the disabled, children and pregnant women would be maintained at current levels.
Democrats in Nevada rejected more than $90 million in Medicaid cuts proposed by Gov. Brian Sandoval. Among Sandoval's proposals was a reduction in reimbursement of $20 per hour for skilled nursing homes, a cut he later modified to $15 per hour. The Nevada Health Care Association vigorously opposed the planned cuts and suggested they would result in the closure of some facilities, if enacted. While the rejection of the governor's Medicaid cuts leaves the state with a $90 hole to fill in the budget, state Democrats have outlined a plan to keep some taxes that were set to expire and raise taxes in other areas to eliminate the gap. Sandoval has stated that he will oppose any new state taxes.