CMS Approves $10.6B, Three-Year Massachusetts Medicaid Waiver To Allow State To Continue Health Insurance Law
CMS on Tuesday agreed to grant Massachusetts a three-year, $10.6 billion Medicaid waiver that will allow the state to continue its health insurance law, the Boston Globe reports (Lazar, Boston Globe, 10/1). The waiver will allow the state to spend $21.2 billion over the next three years on its health insurance law, a $4.3 billion increase over the previous waiver (LeBlanc, AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 10/1).The 2006 Massachusetts health insurance law requires most state residents to obtain health coverage, with subsidized policies offered to those who meet income requirements. About 440,000 additional residents have obtained coverage since the program began (Boston Globe, 10/1). The previous federal waiver for the program had expired June 30, but the government granted several extensions as negotiations for the new waiver were ongoing (Sack, New York Times, 10/1).
The waiver allows the state to maintain income eligibility for subsidized health coverage to residents with incomes up to 300% of the poverty level, who otherwise would not qualify for Medicaid. The agreement also allows the state to spend $5 billion over the next three years on its new programs, about $1 billion more than the previous waiver allowed (Boston Globe, 10/1).
Comments
Gov. Deval Patrick (D) said that the waiver "fully preserves existing eligibility and benefit levels as well as federal matching funds for all programs," adding, "The agreement allows the state to meet all of its health care obligations for fiscal year 2009" (CQ HealthBeat, 9/30). Patrick said, "This is an exceptional outcome under any circumstances, but especially now," adding that "even in tough times we cannot afford to abandon our commitment to affordable, accessible, high-quality health care for every man, woman and child in the Commonwealth" (New York Times, 10/1).
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who helped negotiate the agreement, in a written statement said, "We've made major progress in the program's first two years, cutting the number of uninsured in half and increasing employer-sponsored coverage." According to Kennedy, "Our experience with health reform in the Commonwealth argues well for our debate on national health reform next year" (Boston Globe, 10/1).
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said the agreement "builds on the Bush administration's ongoing commitment of helping Massachusetts decrease the number of uninsured individuals while at the same time directing taxpayer dollars to beneficiaries. This helps provide patients with choice and responsibility in obtaining the coverage that best suits their health care needs" (CQ HealthBeat, 9/30).
Business Contributions
Also on Tuesday, the Patrick administration said that it would delay until Jan. 1, 2009, new rules requiring businesses to contribute more toward workers' health coverage and that the rules would apply only to companies with 50 or more employees, rather than 10 or more, as previously planned. JudyAnn Bigby, the state Health and Human Services secretary, said that concerns raised by businesses about the rules were "compelling" and that it was not the state's intent to "penalize small businesses."
The Patrick administration said that under the new rules, larger companies would have to cover at least 33% of their workers' premiums within the first 90 days of employment and ensure that at least 25% of their full-time workers are enrolled in an employer-sponsored plan. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees would have to meet only one of the requirements (Boston Globe, 10/1).
