February 14, 2002
The Ways and Means committee will finish (we hope)
deliberations on the SRS
Budget today. As of yesterday, as we predicted, they acknowledged our
concerns by listing PD Waiver funding as a priority issue, but not adding any
funding. In essence, they are sticking with the Governor's "deep" cut
budget
until they determine if more revenue will be available. If there is ever more
revenue available, they would identify PD Waiver, Family Preservation and
some other topics at the top of their list.
In the Governor's budget (not his enhancements) it does include adding $1.00
to the cost of co pay for pharmaceuticals. That means anyone who is
currently
paying or is supposed to be paying $2.00 for each prescription would have to
start paying $3.00 in July. Anyone who is exempt from co pay now (all
Waiver
folks) are still exempt.
In our discussions regarding this increase we talked with Laura Howard who
informed us that according to federal law, people cannot be denied their
prescriptions if they can't pay. So we asked where the cost savings would
come if they couldn't pay it. We learned that if a consumer can't pay,
the
Pharmacist has to pay for the co pay.
Thanks to our friend and advocate Leroy Bell, we soon found out that lot's of
folks are being denied their meds by pharmacists, if they can't pay the co
pay. Laura tells us that if that is occurring, then we need to turn in
those
pharmacists because it is against the contract.
Whoa now, don't start calling yet. The real problem here is that the
Pharmacists are in essence getting this increase. After spending some time
with the lobbyist for the Pharmacy folks I am getting a better understanding
of the issue. They can't afford to lose another dollar per prescription,
so
what will happen if we force their hand is they will just refuse to prescribe
for Medicaid. Then where do you go to get prescriptions filled?
We continue to oppose this increase. It's not good for anyone, however it
will add a savings of over $1,000,000 to the budget. Without it, the
Legislature will have to find savings somewhere else.
A final note, it appears that we have finally come to agreement on the issue
of transfer to the FE waiver when you turn 65. Regulations will be out
soon
and the process should allow us to start on July 1, 2002. Thanks to the
Governor's staff, SRS and Aging for coming together to solve this one.
In our discussion we learned that based on Governor's budget, the Department
on Aging will have a waiting list for the FE waiver beginning in July and
they anticipate it getting as high as 300 by end of fiscal year. As you
may
or may not know, income eligible programs already have waiting lists and are
beginning to cut back services.
DOA budget will be heard next week in the House subcommittee at 3:30 starting
Monday.
Final report on SRS Budget will go to the Senate Ways and Means on Tuesday
of next week. (That's 10:30 in Ways and Means room).
Senate Ways and Means will be discussing Level of Care Scores tomorrow at
10:30. This may be our next big battle!
Gina
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