Rep. Dingell Promises To Pass Bill Blocking New Medicaid Rules; Senate Introduces Similar Bill

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 08 Apr 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on Thursday promised to pass a measure (HR 5613) aimed at blocking seven new Medicaid regulations that would reduce health care coverage for pregnant women, low-income children, nursing home residents and other groups during a health subcommittee hearing, CQ Today reports. In addition, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation (S 2819) on Thursday that aims to block the new rules, the first of which took effect March 3.

According to CQ Today, the seven rule changes at issue aim to restrict the services covered by some states' case management plans; limit Medicaid reimbursement to public hospitals; narrow federal Medicaid reimbursement eligibility for outpatient hospital services; bar federal reimbursement for transportation to school and school-based care for Medicaid-eligible children; restrict the types of "rehabilitative" services covered by federal funding; cut federal Medicaid reimbursement for students at teaching hospitals; and limit taxes some states charge health providers. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the new rules would save Medicaid programs $17.8 billion over five years.

Dingell's bill would postpone the rule changes until April 2009. The measure would cost about $1.65 billion, taking into account the savings from the regulations, according to CBO estimates. Dingell aides said the cost would be balanced with a cost-cutting measure that would require electronic verification of people who apply for Medicaid. Dingell on Thursday urged Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health, to approve the bill in the subcommittee. An unnamed Pallone spokesperson said the subcommittee has planned a mark up of the bill "in the coming weeks."

The Senate bill -- co-sponsored by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) -- would postpone the seven regulations covered in Dingell's bill, as well as two separate new rules regarding HHS and SCHIP. In addition, the Senate bill would provide states with $12 billion in emergency aid for budget shortfalls, with $6 billion earmarked for Medicaid programs.

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Dingell said the new rules "go beyond any justifiable point to curb any abuses in the system and instead would shift costs to the states and prohibit federal support for legitimate expenditures" for Medicaid beneficiaries. Barbara Coulter Edwards, interim director of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors, said the rules "appear to have unintended consequences on good programs and will limit legitimate services to vulnerable people."

The Bush administration and other Republicans have said that the regulations are reasonable and that they would not affect "medically necessary" health care for Medicaid beneficiaries, CQ Today reports. Dennis Smith, Medicaid director at CMS, said Dingell's measure would hinder efforts to monitor waste and abuse of Medicaid services. Smith said the Bush administration "strongly opposes" the measure (Wayne, CQ Today, 4/3).

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