Senator proposes bill to block Medicaid cuts
by
Josh Egbert
Story Created:
Jan 31, 2012 at 8:01 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Jan 31, 2012 at 8:55 PM CDT
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is looking at cutting millions of dollars from the state's Medicaid program.
But a bill introduced in the legislature could prevent that.
Omaha Senator Jeremy Nordquist has proposed a bill that would prevent HHS from making the $22 million in cuts mostly dealing with Medicaid Services.
News 5's Josh Egbert looked into how those possible cuts would impact Nebraskans.
Hundreds of thousands of Nebraskan's rely on Medicaid to help pay for medical expenses.
The potential cuts could be costly to home health care providers, who depend on Medicaid to get paid.
It's not just for help paying the medical bills. It's for bathing, dressing, transferring from bed to chair. Medicaid also helps pay for home health care allowing Nebraskans to live on their own while getting assistance from a health care professional
"It would mean, they may not be able to get up in the morning or they may need to be moved to an institutional setting," said Independence Rising Director Joni Thomas.
Those services could disappear if the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services proceeds with nearly $22 million worth of planned cuts in Medicaid services.
It could mean that people who are currently living in the community, maybe even employed such as myself would have to live in an institution.
Vivianne Chaumont, director of the state Medicaid system, told the appropriations committee on Monday quote, "managing the growth of the Medicaid program requires difficult decisions and impacts real people."
In fiscal year 2010-2011, Medicaid funded the care of more then 235,000 Nebraskans, up 4.9 percent from the year before.
Chaumont says about the cuts, "we propose these measures to ensure that Medicaid remains a viable program for meeting the basic health needs of needy Nebraskans."
For people like Thomas, who's not only the executive director of Independence Rising, but also a home health care consumer herself, these changes could play a big impact.
"As a consumer who uses both home health and personal assistant services, the impact would be huge for me," said Thomas.
In total, cuts to Medicaid and the Department of Health and Human Services, would save an estimated $28 million annually in state funds.
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