“Medicaid expansion should be for the group that’s kind of maybe in transition,” said Lenz. They also say the program should not become a permanent benefit for people. Others say its eligibility needs to be tightened, so those who aren’t truly needy don’t take advantage of it. Some Republicans oppose the program outright. Buttrey’s bill has budgeted the program for $1.5 billion over the next two years. The federal government pays 90 percent of the cost, but the state must cover the remainder.
Mike lenz firestream how to#
Medicaid expansion, approved by the Legislature in 2015, provides mostly free coverage to able-bodied adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which will be about $17,200 a year for a single person as of April 1.īut the 2015 law set a June 30, 2019, expiration date for the program, so the Legislature could re-examine it and decide whether and how to continue it. “Part of the reason why I did the Saturday hearing, I want to hear the whole gamut of how (the bills) interconnect,” he told MTN News on Friday. If the hearing takes that long, the committee will then take a half-hour lunch break and return to hear Buttrey’s bill in the afternoon. Dennis Lenz, R-Billings, who chairs the panel, said he’s allotted four hours for HB425. with Caferro’s bill, at Room 303 in the state Capitol. The House Human Services Committee will start Saturday’s hearing at 9 a.m. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls.īuttrey’s bill tightens up eligibility for the program, requiring participants to take part in 20 hours a week of “community engagement,” which could be a job, looking for a job, volunteer work or other activities. Those who want to continue the program are behind House Bill 658, which was just introduced this week by Rep. Steve Bullock and fellow Democrats are behind it, saying Medicaid expansion has been a smashing success that doesn’t need an overhaul.īut Republicans, who control majorities at the Legislature, have different ideas of what Medicaid expansion should look like. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, which extends the program with a few minor changes. Schreiner’s preferred “real solution” is House Bill 425, sponsored by Rep. “I think once people have an opportunity to hear about both bills, people will know for sure that there is a real solution, and then there’s politics.” “I think it’s going to be a real opportunity for people to finally see and hear what the differences are between the two proposed actions,” House Minority Leader Casey Schreiner, D-Great Falls, said this week. HELENA - The biggest issue of the 2019 Legislature will be under the spotlight Saturday, as a House committee plans an all-day hearing on the two competing bills to continue Medicaid expansion, the $750 million-a-year program that provides government-funded health coverage to 95,000 low-income adult Montanans.
0 kommentar(er)
