Just about everyone involved with state government agrees that something must be done to rein in spending on Medicaid – the health-insurance program for low-income residents.
But there is considerably less agreement about whether the sweeping structural changes proposed by the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing are that something.
The joint legislative Health and Human Services Committee is expected to vote on that proposal today.
If the committee approves the plan – which would expand coverage, streamline bureaucracy and impose cost controls – it will move to the Joint Budget Committee.
That committee has the power to grant final approval.
“I think it’s a good idea. It’s a good step in the right direction,” said House Republican Kevin Lundberg, who represents Weld and Larimer counties and is a member of the joint legislative committee.
Critics say Colorado’s plan is too complicated, leaves too many unanswered questions and is too big a gamble because it requires the state to lock into a predetermined Medicaid payment from the federal government for five years.
Lundberg said he is not concerned about the five-year cap on federal matching funds the program would require.
“Medicaid is growing at an unsustainable rate not just in Colorado, but everywhere. We have to draw some lines and say this is all we have to work with,” Lundberg said.
One of the most popular features of the Colorado Family Care plan combines Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus, the health insurance for children in low-income working families, to streamline bureaucracy and save money.
In addition, the proposal would make more working- poor families eligible for coverage and would revive an HMO- centered Medicaid program.
The proposed Medicaid changes were prompted by the Bush administration’s Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability Initiative Act, which encourages states to rebuild their own Medicaid programs.
The goal is to control spending on a program that is squeezing state and federal budgets.
The states and the federal government split the costs of Medicaid.
So far, six states, including Florida and South Carolina, have created their own plans.
Colorado’s proposal, like those in most other states, does not address the single-most- expensive piece of Medicaid – long-term care, such as nursing homes.
“Most of your expensive health-care needs are not addressed,” said Rep. Lauri Clapp, an Arapahoe County Republican.
There are too many changes coming too quickly, according to the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, which has come out against the proposal.
“It’s just the wrong tool for the job,” said Ben Davis, spokesman for the organization.
Davis said the organization supports many of the plan’s ideas, but the group contends they could be accomplished without an agreement that limits federal contributions to the state.
Staff writer Karen Auge can be reached at 303-820-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com.
