Comments on proposed Medicaid and CHIP funding in SB 1 and HHSC Exceptional Items

1
Comments on proposed Medicaid and CHIP funding
in SB 1and HHSC Exceptional Items
900 Lydia Street - Austin, Texas 78702 Phone
[phone] fax [phone] - www.cppp.org

• House Committee on Appropriations,
• Subcommittee on Health and Human Services
• Austin, Texas
• February 11, 2005
• Anne Dunkelberg, Assistant Director
  (dunkelberg_at_cppp.org)

2

• CPPP supports funding for
• Medicaid current services Exceptional items
  1,2,14, and 17.
• Reversing Medicaid Cuts made in 2003
• In particular, Exceptional items 15 and 16,
  Restore Adult Benefits and Partially Restore
  Medically Needy
• Exceptional item 3, Restore Provider rates
• CHIP Current Services Exceptional items 8 and 9,
  caseload growth and cost growth.
• Reversing CHIP Cuts made in 2003
• In particular, Exceptional item 10, rate
  restoration.
• Restore CHIP CBO Outreach and marketing to
  2002-03 levels.
• Waiting Lists Exceptional item 26

3

• Eliminated these services for ALL ADULTS on
  Medicaid
• (Aged, Disabled, and Adult TANF recipients)
• mental health services by social workers,
  psychologists, licensed professional counselors,
  and licensed marriage and family therapists,
• podiatrists,
• eyeglasses and hearing aids
• chiropractors.
• WHO THEY ARE
• Adults Losing Mental Health Services, Eyeglasses,
  Hearing Aids, Podiatry
• All 862,500 of the 2.7 million Texans on Medicaid
  in January.
• 77 are elderly or disabled, all adult Texans on
  SSI (60, who live on less than 580 per month),
  and all long-term/community care clients,
  including
• Most adult Texans with significant mental
  retardation
• Most Texans with serious mental illness that
  began before or in early adulthood
• Most Texans in nursing homes (about 70 of all
  Texans in nursing homes) and
• Many Texans with major disabilities acquired
  before or in early adulthood, or lifetime
  disabilities

4

• Medically Needy Spend-Down Program for Parents
  (Temporary Coverage for Families with High
  Medical Bills)
• Provided Medicaid benefits on a month-to-month
  basis to parents of dependent children who had
  large medical bills that, when subtracted from
  earnings, reduced their income to 22-31 of
  poverty (395/month for a working parent with 2
  children, or 275/month for a non-working parent
  of 2).
• Medically Needy spend-down still available for
  maternity coverage and persons under age 19, due
  to federal requirements.
• HHSC estimated about 10,000 fewer parents per
  month have been covered.
• Emergency Medicaid. Eliminating spend-down to
  Emergency Medicaid also cut payments to
  hospitals for emergency care provided to Legal
  AND undocumented immigrant parents.
• WHO THEY ARE
• Medically Needy Average age of parent was 34
  years. Could not have income (after medical
  bills) of more than 395/month for family of 3,
  and no more than 2,000 in resources (liquid and
  certain vehicle values).