[NYAPRS Enews] MHW: Obama Plan Extends Medicaid Rehab Regs Moratorium, Boosts SSI Relief

[Matt Canuteson]

Obama Economic Plan To Provide Medicaid Funding To States

Mental Health Weekly   January 19, 2009

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76&issn=1058-1103

 

House Democrats and President elect Barack Obama's economic team last
week released its $825 billion economic recovery plan, which to the
relief of advocates, includes increasing Medicaid aid to states and
extending the moratorium on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS)
regulations through October.

 

The proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill which includes
funding for education, tax credits and infrastructure, is also poised to
lower health care costs, according to officials.

 

"Medicaid represents the largest piece of the bill," Andrew Sperling,
director of legislative affairs for the National Alliance on Mental
Illness (NAMI), told MHW. "There will be an $87 billion two-year
increase in each state's matching rate," he said.

 

The FMAP [Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentages] formula will be based
on a number of factors, such as the unemployment rate and the proportion
of revenue shortfalls to the state's overall budget, he said.

 

The FMAP funding represents the share of Medicaid costs the federal
government reimburses all states by 4.8 percent.

Other elements of the bill

include:

* Health Information Technology:$20 billion to jumpstart efforts to
computerize health records to cut costs and reduce medical errors.

* Community Health Centers:$1.5 billion, including $500 million to
increase the number of uninsured Americans who receive quality
healthcare and $1 billion to renovate clinics and make health
information technology improvements. More than 400 applications
submitted earlier this year for new or expanded CHC sites remain
unfunded.

* Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: $2.5 billion for block grants
to help States deal with the surge in families needing help during the
recession and to prevent them from cutting work programs and services
for abused and neglected children.

 

CMS regulations

Advocates last year had pushed lawmakers to enforce a moratoria on six
CMS-proposed regulations, including targeted case management and
rehabilitation services for children and adults. The Senate approved the
moratoria through March 2009. The new economic plan extends those
regulations through October 1, 2009.

 

The bill includes $1.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). There is no indication at this point how they will plan to
prioritize the funding, Sperling said.

 

All of the entities that comprise the NIH, including the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Drug
Abuse (NIDA) and the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute, will have
to compete for a share of the funding, said Sperling. The good news, he
said, is that separate funding will be allocated toward bioterriosm
research, rather than be included in the NIH funding.

 

The legislation also includes $4 billion to provide a one-time
additional Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payment. That means that
individuals receiving SSI will receive one extra check in 2009, said
Sperling. About one-third of the people on SSI rolls have severe and
persistent mental illness (SPMI), he added.

 

Sperling noted that the legislation includes $1.1 billion for Healthcare
Research and Quality programs to compare the effectiveness of different
medical treatments funded by Medicare, Medicaid, and the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The funding will be
directed to finding out what works best and educating patients and
doctors will improve treatment and save taxpayers money. Although NAMI
is not against this type of research, the organization does have
concerns about the way it appears to be structured, and about having a
government agency deciding what treatments are best for Medicaid and
Medicare recipients based on cost effective data, said Sperling. 

 

"It's a complicated issue," he said. "We don't want to see it done in a
clumsy way."

 

There is a great deal of information contained in the new legislation
and a lot to sort through, said Sperling, who noted that the budget
document is 258 pages. NAMI will have a fact sheet about the economic
plan and its impact on the mental health community on its website, he
said. Mental Health Weekly will continue to keep our readers informed
about these important developments. 

 

 

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