Rep. Dingell Introduces Legislation That Would Delay Seven New Medicaid Regulations For One Year

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 18 Mar 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) on Thursday introduced a bill (HR 5613) that would postpone seven new Medicaid regulations for one year -- "potentially killing them, depending on who is president by then," CQ Today reports (Wayne, CQ Today, 3/14). The regulations, proposed by the Bush administration, would prohibit states from using federal Medicaid funds to help pay for physician training, place new limits on Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes operated by state and local government, and limit coverage of rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, including those with mental illnesses (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 3/4).

Dingell in a statement said, "The restrictions the administration is imposing on Medicaid are harmful and will undoubtedly put the health of thousands of our most vulnerable children at unnecessary, indefensible risk." Dennis Smith, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at CMS, said the Bush administration does not plan to delay the regulations because of congressional concerns.

Children's Care
In related news, the child advocacy group First Focus on Friday released a report that determined that the Medicaid rule changes would have a particularly negative effect on children's health care. In the report, author Sara Rosenbaum, chair of the department of health policy at George Washington University, concluded that the regulations would undermine a Medicaid program that focuses on identifying and treating low-income children with serious health needs from an early age through adolescence. She recommended a broad moratorium, similar to the one introduced by Dingell.

Rosenbaum wrote, "[W]hile the regulations pose a direct threat to programs and services for children of any age, and whose special needs arise from any cause, the most endangered group of children may be those who were born prematurely and at very low birthweight, and who may require both immediate and ongoing services throughout their lives as a means of achieving maximum rehabilitation from birth injury."

Smith said the report "mischaracterizes the regulations and the impact of the regulations" and uses the early childhood health program as a "smokescreen." He added that Rosenbaum did not mention the "abuses" by states that use Medicaid funding for purposes other than health care, which the administration's Medicaid regulations are intended to address. Smith said, "These rules represent less than 1% of federal spending," adding "If we can't take on these issues, then how are we going to take on the bigger issues," such as an overhaul of Medicaid and Medicare (CQ Today, 3/14).

The First Focus report is available online.

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