Seeking cure for Medicaid
"It's just an unsustainable model," said state Rep.
Enrollment in MassHealth -- the state's
Spending on MassHealth is expected to surge by
Part of the huge increase can be attributed to federal implementation of Obamacare that allows full- or part-time employees of a certain income level to bypass their work-offered insurance and still sign up for MassHealth.
The state estimates that amounts to about 379,000 people.
Gov.
But the House has its own plan, which would still assess a fee on businesses, but allow state officials more freedom to craft the details.
Lyons told the Herald the state needs to fix the inner-workings of MassHealth first.
"Before we start charging the taxpayers and charging businesses, we ought to know exactly who's on the program," the
Lyons and state Rep.
Among them, their proposal would prevent Bay Staters who are offered subsidized insurance at work to sign up for any state-funded health care plan, such as MassHealth.
Another amendment would allow MassHealth to charge an average premium of
Spending on MassHealth could not exceed 30 percent of the overall state budget, and a fiscal control board would be created to oversee MassHealth for the next five years and perform an audit of enrollees and fees charged by providers.
Lyons and Lombardo are planning to hold a press conference Monday morning at the State House to detail their proposal and try to create momentum for it.
Lyons also wants to learn more about how much taxpayers are shelling out to cover illegal immigrants under MassHealth.
He pointed to a Gov.
A MassHealth official told the Herald that illegal immigrants are only covered for emergency services, not provided with year-round plans that would include services like preventative care.
Those emergency services, called
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