Medicaid and Services to People with Disabilties Are at Risk!

Action Alert
Act Now to Urge Legislators to
Remove Medicaid from the Budget Repair Bill (2/17/11)

MEDICAID AND SERVICES TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILTIES ARE AT RISK!

Just after midnight, the Joint Committee on Finance passed an amended Budget Repair Bill on a party line 12-4 vote The bill will now move to the Senate and the Assembly - the Senate is expected to vote TODAY!
Although some changes were made to the Medicaid provisions (see below for information about the amendment), our major concerns were NOT addressed and have the potential to give the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) unprecedented power to make major changes to Medicaid, without our traditional open transparent process which includes robust legislative oversight, and multiple opportunities for public input. The LFB analysis of the amendment is here: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/2011-13Bills/2011_02_16JFC.pdf
Background
The bill allows DHS to study Wisconsin’s Medicaid programs and then gives them sweeping authority to implement “emergency” rules that would go into effect without a vote from the full legislature. Decisions about these programs could be made behind closed doors.
Decisions could be made to increase costs for program participants, allow providers to deny service to those who can’t share costs and change existing benefits. The department would have to ability to make major changes to Family Care, BadgerCare, SeniorCare and other Medicaid programs with minimal legislative oversight and without public input. These changes could have an enormous impact on older adults, people with disabilities, and families and children who depend on these programs.
We know the state is facing significant budget challenges. But, this proposal does NOTHING to save money for this fiscal year.
This bill is on a fast track for approval. The Governor introduced the budget repair bill on Friday, February 11, Joint Finance passed it on Wednesday 2/16, and the full legislature is expected to vote on it by the end of this week – the Senate may vote today. With all the media coverage and focus on labor issues, the Medicaid issues continue to receive very little attention – it is essential that legislators hear that we oppose these changes!
Take Action Today
Contact your state legislators TODAY and urge them to oppose the budget repair bill provisions that would allow sweeping changes to be made to Medicaid programs without approval of the state senate and assembly or input from consumers.
Who to send your message to:
To find out who your state legislators are, go to http://legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/waml/waml.aspx or call toll-free: 1-800-362-9472.
Summary of the Major Medicaid portions of the Amendment to the Budget Repair Bill
The Joint Finance Committee last night added a January 1, 2015 “sunset provision” to the bill which means some emergency rules created by DHS through this bill could end on that date. This change continues to be very concerning because even though any rule (which will have been written and put in place with extremely limited public and legislative input) may end, it could still do extensive damage to our state Medicaid programs and the supports provided to persons with disabilities and their families while they are in place. The rules will potentially be in place for 4 years. The current state definition for emergency rule provides that a rule be in effect for 150 days and then allows for an extension for a maximum of 120 days. These new emergency rules” that can in essence be in effect for YEARS and should be subject to the regular legislative and public input process. Thousands of people will be impacted by these rule changes between now and the “sunset”.