Oklahoma Health Care Authority Votes to Delay Cuts in Medicaid Eligibility

The Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which oversees the state's Medicaid program, on Oct. 10 voted unanimously to delay from Nov. 1 to March 1 scheduled reductions in Medicaid eligibility that the agency approved in September, the Daily Oklahoman reports (Killackey, Daily Oklahoman, 10/11). The authority on Sept. 18 approved cuts to Medicaid aimed at offsetting a $213.4 million state budget deficit in this fiscal year. Officials approved reductions in Medicaid eligibility for children ages one to five from 185% to 133% of the poverty level and reduced eligibility for children ages six to 18 to 115%. The authority also approved new eligibility restrictions for adults in the aged, blind and disabled program, as well as cuts in the state's Medically Needy program, which provides short-term coverage for people who have incomes that would normally disqualify them from receiving Medicaid benefits (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/8). About 62,000 children and 18,000 adults would lose their Medicaid benefits under the eligibility reductions, Tulsa World reports (Kelly, Tulsa World, 10/11). Reductions in Medicaid benefits affecting about 13,400 beneficiaries that took effect Oct. 1 will not be affected by the delay in eligibility restrictions. Cuts approved by the authority Oct. 1 include ending adult dental benefits, reducing the number of covered hospital days from 24 to 15 and changing prescription drug coverage from an unlimited number of prescriptions to five prescriptions per month for some beneficiaries (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/8).

Offsetting the Delay
To finance the delay in eligibility reduction and help reduce its budget shortfall, the Health Care Authority will increase payments to the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University health clinics, which care for thousands of Medicaid beneficiaries, and as a result, will receive additional federal matching funds, Tulsa World reports. The federal government would be responsible for about 70% and the state 30% of the increase in cost. The additional funds the universities receive would be transferred to the Health Care Authority, which would receive around $9.5 million through April, according to agency CEO Mike Fogarty. The plan must be approved by CMS, Tulsa World reports. Should the plan not receive approval, the authority would lose around $2.1 million per month from October through February (Tulsa World, 10/11). "There is some risk involved. Our board and the Legislature are aware of that. But we believe the federal government will approve our plan," Fogarty said. As a "backup plan," the authority is hoping Congress will approve additional Medicaid funding for all states (Daily Oklahoman, 10/11).