SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 46

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Sue Wilson Beffort

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE TO CONDUCT A STUDY TO ASSESS THE IMPACT ON HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES AGENCIES THAT ARE REIMBURSED ON A FIXED-RATE BASIS OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MANDATE THAT LARGE EMPLOYERS PROVIDE HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE TO THEIR EMPLOYEES.

     WHEREAS, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act contains a mandate, beginning in 2014, for employers of more than fifty employees to provide health insurance benefits to their employees or pay a fine; and

     WHEREAS, home- and community-based services agencies recognize the importance of and are committed to providing health insurance benefits to their employees; and

     WHEREAS, home- and community-based services agencies are concerned about the lack of a revenue source that will enable them to meet this important mandate; and

     WHEREAS, many home- and community-based services agencies will not be able to afford the significant costs associated with meeting this health insurance requirement because the services that they provide are provided primarily through government programs and are reimbursed on a fixed-rate basis; and

     WHEREAS, in addition to this new federal mandate, there are a number of existing unfunded state programmatic mandates and state requirements related to the cost of doing business, including: minimum wage standards that exceed the national requirement, required criminal background screening of employees and disparities in the reimbursement of state gross receipts taxes; and

     WHEREAS, combined with these state policies, the new federal mandate poses a very real threat of closure of home- and community-based services agencies when implemented; and

     WHEREAS, if timely and meaningful action is not taken, vulnerable individuals and families relying on these critical home- and community-based services will be faced with the threat of vanishing caregivers when agencies find that they can no longer afford to operate; and

     WHEREAS, access to home- and community-based services agencies and the chronic care management that they provide is a critical element in the continuum of long-term care services; and

     WHEREAS, it is reasonable to presume that, without the availability of these services, there will be higher costs and less-desirable institutional placements, coupled with increased unemployment among home- and community-based services caregivers; and

     WHEREAS, a thriving home care and hospice industry has the potential to realize savings to both state and federal governments that are far greater than the cost of the mandated health insurance coverage; and

     WHEREAS, it is imperative that a solution be found to ensure that home- and community-based services agencies will be able to meet the mandate to provide health insurance coverage to their employees;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislative finance committee be requested to direct its staff to conduct a study to assess the impact on home- and community-based services agencies that are reimbursed on a fixed-rate basis of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mandate that large employers provide health insurance coverage to their employees or incur a penalty; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that legislative finance committee staff collaborate with home- and community-based services agencies, the New Mexico association for home and hospice care, managed care organizations that provide medicaid services in New Mexico, the human services department and others, as legislative finance committee staff deem necessary, to analyze this issue; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the findings and recommendations of this study be presented to the legislative finance committee and to the legislative health and human services committee no later than November 1, 2013; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the director of the legislative finance committee, the secretary of human services and the director of the medical assistance division of the human services department.

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