NAMD Comments on Federal Health Reform Efforts

WASHINGTON, May 30 -- The National Association of Medicaid Directors issued the following news release:

Last week, the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) responded to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hatch's recent request to provide input as the Senate begins its consideration of health reform. The state Medicaid Directors possess a unique understanding of the operational realities and intricacies of managing the nation's largest health insurance program, and will continue to seek all opportunities to impart key considerations during the process.

We reiterated the strong bipartisan consensus policies and positions developed over the past six months, which detail NAMD's considerations for federal policymakers on the matters of: 1) comprehensive Medicaid reform; and 2) repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. We also included our consensus recommendations on specific legislative fixes to Medicaid that our members support.

The most important consideration for federal policymakers is to better understand and appreciate the critical role Medicaid plays in serving millions of Americans. Medicaid improves the health and well being of seniors and people with disabilities, and enables them to live independently. Medicaid also supports the health, school and work-readiness of the low-income children, families and adults whom we serve. A key example of this is Medicaid's role in covering life-saving treatment for substance use disorders. This is helping to combat the opioid crisis that has ravaged so many families and communities across our nation.

Medicaid directors are committed to ensuring effective, efficient administration of their programs and being responsible stewards of the taxpayer dollar. To that end, Medicaid has led the way for payers in implementing care delivery innovations and value-based payment reforms. Medicaid programs also have modernized systems to drive efficiency. This has helped to keep administrative costs low and to prevent, identify and recover funds in situations of fraud and abuse. Our streamlined eligibility processes have reduced red tape for consumers, substantially eliminated manual paperwork, and enabled automated real-time means of verifying eligibility of applicants.

Judy Mohr Peterson, Medicaid Director in Hawai'i and NAMD's Board President stressed that "Medicaid is a successful state-federal partnership where financing and operational authority has always been a shared responsibility. Thus it is essential that any proposed changes to the program have input/engagement from the state Medicaid Directors and must focus on the outcomes that we all want to achieve."

Tom Betlach, Medicaid Director in Arizona and NAMD's Immediate Past President stressed that "any attempt to unilaterally limit the federal government's financial responsibility must simultaneously provide a clear and powerful statutory framework to enable states to adapt their programs accordingly. These changes must acknowledge the true cost centers of Medicaid spending and how interconnected the program is to the rest of the health care system. Failure to do so would constitute the largest intergovernmental transfer of financial risk to states in our country's history."

Kate McEvoy, Medicaid Director in Connecticut and NAMD's Board Vice President emphasized that "Medicaid services keep people as independent and healthy as possible, increasing their self-sufficiency while reducing health care costs for everyone. Medicaid supports economic development within states because people can get treatment for physical, mental and/or substance use disorders and get back to work."