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SPONSOR: |
Hurt |
DATE TYPED: |
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HB |
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SHORT TITLE: |
Limit Medical Assistance Rate |
SB |
576/aSFl#1 |
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ANALYST: |
Weber |
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APPROPRIATION
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Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
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FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
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See Narrative |
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(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Responses
Received From
Human
Services Department
SUMMARY
Synopsis of
Senate Floor Amendment # 1
Senate Floor Amendment # 1 changes the base year
from FY03 to FY04 with the appropriations then limited for FY05 and FY06.
Synopsis
of Original Bill
Senate Bill 576 would
limit the appropriation to the Human Services Department for Medicaid in Fiscal
Years 2004, 2005 and 2006 to not exceed the percent of the total state
appropriation that Medicaid received in Fiscal Year 2003.
Significant
Issues
Senate Bill 576 attempts to set a fiscal limit
on the Medicaid program proportional to the percentage of total state funds
used in FY03 for that purpose. If
adopted, the absolute Medicaid expenditure would increase or decrease dependent
on the total state revenues.
The bill does not define total state expenditure,
that is, whether this includes tobacco funds, county taxes, interagency funds
and other revenues that make up the Medicaid revenues or only general
fund. Also, the total Medicaid
expenditure for FY03 is not yet known which makes it impossible to determine
the appropriation for FY04.
Since Medicaid is an entitlement program,
limiting the total appropriation in advance would require constant changes in
benefits and/or eligibility during the fiscal year to ensure the appropriation
is not exceeded. It does not appear
possible to make such changes in a timely fashion since many would involve
federal approval and prior contractual obligations.
The parameters that define the Medicaid revenue
requirement are not proportional to or a function of the state revenue
growth. While such a proposal may be a
common sense approach to limiting Medicaid growth, it would be very difficult
to accomplish.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Senate Bill 576 would
make Medicaid expenditures more predictable.
MW/sb:prr:njw