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(Lincoln, NE) Gov. Dave Heineman and Sen. Jim Jensen, Chairman of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, announced the appointment today of 10 members to the Medicaid Reform Advisory Council, as required in LB 709, which passed this year.
Named today to the Medicaid Reform Advisory Council were: Kathy Campbell, Executive Vice President, CEDARS Home for Children Foundation; Gayle-ann Douglas, Executive Vice President, Douglas Manufacturing Corp. of Crete; Mary Lee Fitzsimmons, Iowa-Nebraska Primary Care Association; Phil Gustafson, Chief Executive Officer, Creighton University Medical Center; Steve Martin, President/Chief Executive Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield; Sen. Don Pederson, chairman of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee; Ron Ross, State Treasurer; Cory Shaw, Chief Administrative Officer, University Medical Associates at the University of Nebraska Medical Center; Pat Snyder, Executive Director of the Nebraska Health Care Association; and Tony Sorrentino, Executive Vice President, Silverstone Group.
"I want to thank each member for agreeing to help us look closely at the Nebraska Medicaid program and recommending how we can better balance the need for essential services with what the state’s budget can realistically support," Gov. Heineman said. "We need to have a serious discussion about priorities, and their involvement is imperative."
Sen. Jensen said, "The passage of LB 709 is an important milestone in our efforts to reform the state's Medicaid program. The Medicaid Reform Advisory Council will be an important, but certainly not the only source of input for this undertaking."
LB 709, introduced by Sen. Philip Erdman, provides for reform efforts to moderate the growth of Medicaid spending, to ensure the sustainability of the Medicaid program for needy Nebraskans, to establish priorities and ensure flexibility in the allocation of Medicaid benefits, to examine the effects of changing economics and demographics and to offer alternatives to Medicaid eligibility.
"The nominees represent a broad-based group of qualified candidates whose collective experience and knowledge represent a great asset to the collaborative effort between the Advisory Council, the Legislature and the Governor’s Office set out under LB 709," Sen. Erdman said. "The processes described under LB 709 must include a statewide discussion, because all Nebraskans have an interest in the outcome of reform efforts."
In state fiscal year (SFY) 2004, an average of 197,154 Nebraskans were eligible for Medicaid each month, and $1.3 billion in state and federal funds were paid to health care providers who cared for Medicaid patients. In SFY 1984, Medicaid accounted for 6.7 percent of the state's general fund budget. By SFY 2004, it had increased to account for 17.5 percent.
The intent of LB 709 calls for development of a Medicaid reform plan to address: the needs of low-income, disabled, and aged persons currently receiving Medicaid services, how to avoid shifting primary costs of health care services to providers of care, the appropriate role of county government in providing health care services, the availability and affordability of private health care insurance and long-term care insurance, the personal responsibility of people able to select and provide for all or a portion of the payment for their health care services, the fiscal sustainability of such a plan and alternatives to increase federal funding for services in order to reduce dependence on state General Funds while maintaining or increasing the total amount of funding for such services, as well as the possible utilization of national consultants for that aim.
Sen. Jensen said, "It is important to realize that we cannot sustain the current growth rate of our Medicaid program. Our goal is to reform Medicaid while protecting the needs of people and defining the appropriate role of government in helping to ensure access to adequate and affordable health care for all Nebraskans, within the fiscal constraints of our budget. LB 709 reflects a sincere commitment on the part of the Executive and Legislative branches of government to address this task, despite its immense size and complexity. I am privileged to partner with Governor Heineman in this effort."
The Governor and Sen. Jensen also announced today that Dick Nelson, director of the Department of Health and Human Services for Finance and Support, and Jeff Santema, legal counsel to the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, will be responsible for developing the plan, with involvement of the Medicaid Reform Advisory Council, the public, the HHS System Policy Cabinet and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Public input is encouraged, and at least one public meeting will be held in each Congressional District.
The plan must be submitted by December 1, 2005. Recommendations by the Medicaid Reform Advisory Council regarding the plan are due to the Governor and Legislature by December 14, 2005. The HHS Committee is required to hold a public hearing on the plan by mid-December.
"Because of years of expansion and increased use, this is the first time that Medicaid spending has passed the University of Nebraska in the state budget, and it is quickly gaining on state spending for K-12 education," Gov. Heineman said. "We need to reach out to Nebraskans and ask whether that is where we ought to go, and this council is a means to do just that."
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