Senators passed legislation Tuesday that would require the state’s Department of Community Health to study how Georgia can cut costs from its ailing Medicaid health care program for the poor.
Officials in other states are making changes to their Medicaid programs, including moving more recipients into managed care, said Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick, who sponsored Senate Bill 163. The legislation passed the Senate by a 39-10 vote.
“The state of Florida came out with a pretty significant review of their Medicaid program,” Ligon said. “We can look at that and what other states have done as well.”
The Department of Community Health has already spent more than a year studying options for redesigning Medicaid, including meeting extensively with health care providers, advocates for the developmentally disabled and mentally ill, outside consultants, and other groups.
As a result, the department moved foster children into managed care. Health officials also plan to launch a voluntary managed care program for what is known as Medicaid’s aged, blind and disabled population, which includes patients with complex and costly ailments.
Ligon said all possibilities for how to transform Medicaid should be examined, not just recent reports. The bill would require the department to deliver recommendations on how to ensure Medicaid is adequately funded to the House and Senate health care committees by the end of the year. A similar resolution proposed in the House, HR 107, would require the creation of a new committee made up of lawmakers, health care providers and others to study overhauling Medicaid.
Consumer advocates say they hope the legislation may reopen the door to more discussion of whether Georgia should expand its Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act. Gov. Nathan Deal has opposed expansion, saying the state can’t afford it.
Medicaid busted its budget the past fiscal year by $32 million.
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