Kentucky Senate Promises To Amend House Medicaid Fix. Stay Tuned.
Senate will change House Medicaid compromise
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The chairman of the Senate budget committee said Wednesday morning that the Senate will make changes to the compromise House bill to balance Kentucky’s Medicaid budget.
“I don't think we'll take it as a Senate document,” Sen. Bob Leeper, a Paducah independent, said of the measure passed Monday by the House. “I think we'll make some changes.”
The committee met for about 90 minutes Wednesday morning, asking numerous questions of Health and Family Services Secretary Janie Miller about the Beshear administration's proposal to balance Medicaid from savings achieved through a “managed care” approach to delivering services.
Miller was to return to answer more questions when the budget committee resumes its meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Leeper said he did not know when his committee would complete its work and approve a plan for consideration by the full Senate. He said the committee could approve a bill later Wednesday.
“We're not doing anything to stall the process other than try to get as much information to base our changes on,” Leeper said.
If the Senate does not approve the bill as passed by the House, a conference committee of House and Senate leaders would try to resolve differences between the two chambers.
Wednesday is the 10th day of a special session that Gov. Steve Beshear called to balance the Medicaid budget after the House and Senate failed to agree on the issue during the regular legislative session that ended March 9.
A special session costs taxpayers $63,689 per day, according to an estimate by the Legislative Research Commission.
Beshear said he had to call the session because lawmakers must pass a plan to balance Medicaid before April 1, when he will be forced to slash rates paid to Medicaid providers by 35 percent.
The governor proposed, and the House approved, a plan to balance Medicaid by transferring $166.5 million from the program’s budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year, which begins July 1, to the current year.
The shortage in next year's Medicaid budget would be dealt with by savings achieved through managed care and other efficiencies, Miller said Wednesday.
But members of the Senate Republican majority challenged her repeatedly about whether such savings could be achieved so quickly.
During the regular session, the Senate approved a different approach that cuts state spending across all areas of government to balance Medicaid.
On Monday the House voted 94-4 to approve a compromise that generally gives Beshear a chance to certify by Aug. 15 that he can achieve those savings.
If he can’t do that, spending cuts — with education excluded — would be imposed across state government to make up the difference.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The chairman of the Senate budget committee said Wednesday morning that the Senate will make changes to the compromise House bill to balance Kentucky’s Medicaid budget.
“I don't think we'll take it as a Senate document,” Sen. Bob Leeper, a Paducah independent, said of the measure passed Monday by the House. “I think we'll make some changes.”
The committee met for about 90 minutes Wednesday morning, asking numerous questions of Health and Family Services Secretary Janie Miller about the Beshear administration's proposal to balance Medicaid from savings achieved through a “managed care” approach to delivering services.
Miller was to return to answer more questions when the budget committee resumes its meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Leeper said he did not know when his committee would complete its work and approve a plan for consideration by the full Senate. He said the committee could approve a bill later Wednesday.
“We're not doing anything to stall the process other than try to get as much information to base our changes on,” Leeper said.
If the Senate does not approve the bill as passed by the House, a conference committee of House and Senate leaders would try to resolve differences between the two chambers.
Wednesday is the 10th day of a special session that Gov. Steve Beshear called to balance the Medicaid budget after the House and Senate failed to agree on the issue during the regular legislative session that ended March 9.
A special session costs taxpayers $63,689 per day, according to an estimate by the Legislative Research Commission.
Beshear said he had to call the session because lawmakers must pass a plan to balance Medicaid before April 1, when he will be forced to slash rates paid to Medicaid providers by 35 percent.
The governor proposed, and the House approved, a plan to balance Medicaid by transferring $166.5 million from the program’s budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year, which begins July 1, to the current year.
The shortage in next year's Medicaid budget would be dealt with by savings achieved through managed care and other efficiencies, Miller said Wednesday.
But members of the Senate Republican majority challenged her repeatedly about whether such savings could be achieved so quickly.
During the regular session, the Senate approved a different approach that cuts state spending across all areas of government to balance Medicaid.
On Monday the House voted 94-4 to approve a compromise that generally gives Beshear a chance to certify by Aug. 15 that he can achieve those savings.
If he can’t do that, spending cuts — with education excluded — would be imposed across state government to make up the difference.
Labels: Democratism, Kentucky politics, Republicanism
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