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| SPONSOR: | Robinson | DATE TYPED: | 03/10/01 | HB | |||
| SHORT TITLE: | Hire Medicaid Eligibility Workers at Clinics | SB | 748 | ||||
| ANALYST: | Taylor | ||||||
| Recurring
or Non-Rec |
Fund
Affected | ||||
| FY01 | FY02 | FY01 | FY02 | ||
| $ 130.0 | See Text | ||||
Relates to: HB 2
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Human Services Department (HSD)
Health Policy Commission (HPC)
SUMMARY
Senate Bill 748 appropriate $130 thousand from the general fund to the Human Services Department for the purpose of providing the state's share of cost for hiring fifty-two new full-time equivalent employees to conduct outreach, education and enrollment of children and adults for the state's Medicaid and State Child Health Insurance programs at primary care health clinics throughout the state. The department is required to match federal funds available for this purpose through the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Senate Bill 748 appropriates $130.0 from the general fund; any unexpended or unencumbered balances remaining at the end of FY02 revert to the general fund.
HSD reports that federal Medicaid de-linking funds could be used to match the appropriated state funds. The federal match is 90 percent, thus a total of $1.3 million would be available to fund the outreach, education and enrollment efforts. The department says that the cost per staff person, including salary, benefits and associated start-up costs would be $36,500. Thus, the cost for 52 positions would be $1,898. The department does not report how it determined the average cost per position. Filling the positions at lower skill levels (if appropriate) could significantly reduce the cost.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
HSD reports that it had planned on using the de-linking money for other purposes, and using it for the purposes of this bill may cause the department to pull-back from other planned activities. It does not say what those other activities are; so, it is difficult to weigh the alternative merits for the different uses of the money.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
Assuming the outreach and enrollment efforts are successful, the program will impact the Medicaid budget. The average cost of enrolling a person in managed care is $3,120 per year in total ($811, or 26 percent, is the state's share of the cost). The fiscal impact from these efforts could be significant.
BT/sb