HLS 16RS-2506 ORIGINAL
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 96
BY REPRESENTATIVE TALBOT
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE: Requests a study concerning the potential use of Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to cover certain Medicaid copayment
requirements
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Children
3 and Family Services, jointly, to study the desirability and feasibility of authorizing
4 the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to fund copayments
5 assessed to Medicaid enrollees who receive nonemergency medical services in
6 hospital emergency departments, and to report findings of the study to the
7 legislature.
8 WHEREAS, at over eight billion three hundred eighty million dollars, Medicaid
9comprises thirty-four and two tenths percent of Louisiana's total operating budget in the
10present state fiscal year, representing a significant increase in Medicaid spending since state
11Fiscal Year 2007-2008 when the program comprised twenty-one and five tenths percent of
12the state's operating budget; and
13 WHEREAS, cost containment in the increasingly unaffordable Medicaid program
14is an urgent fiscal and public health priority of this state; and
15 WHEREAS, federal law and regulation specifically authorize states to implement
16Medicaid cost containment strategies through imposition of a variety of cost sharing
17measures for Medicaid enrollees including copayments which may be assessed to enrollees
18for healthcare services such as inpatient and outpatient treatment, preferred and nonpreferred
19prescription drugs, and nonemergency services furnished in hospital emergency departments;
20and
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HCR NO. 96
1 WHEREAS, Louisiana legislators have filed numerous measures in this 2016
2Regular Session of the Legislature which, collectively, call for the Department of Health and
3Hospitals to institute all Medicaid copayments allowed by federal law and regulation, with
4the greatest number of this session's Medicaid cost containment bills proposing copayments
5for nonemergency services furnished in hospital emergency departments; and
6 WHEREAS, per federal Medicaid regulations, states that impose copayments for
7nonemergency services furnished in hospital emergency departments are to reduce Medicaid
8reimbursement to hospitals in the amount of the copayments assessed; and
9 WHEREAS, according to the fiscal notes prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Office
10on this session's Medicaid cost containment bills (for example, the fiscal note on House Bill
11No. 324), if the nonemergency services copayment requirement were to be implemented, the
12resulting Medicaid cost savings would be over one million dollars annually; and
13 WHEREAS, because federal regulations require that states with this copayment
14requirement reduce Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals in the amount of the copayments
15assessed and not amounts actually collected, and because these copayments are essentially
16uncollectible since hospitals may not deny services to a Medicaid enrollee based on inability
17to pay the copayment, implementation of this copayment requirement would result in what
18hospitals argue is an unjustifiable rate cut; and
19 WHEREAS, this flawed scenario could be remedied in favor of both the state's fiscal
20position and its hospitals if either the copayment requirement for nonemergency services
21furnished in hospital emergency departments could be enforced, or if resources could be
22identified to fund such copayments that are assessed to Medicaid enrollees.
23 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
24urge and request the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Children
25and Family Services, jointly, to study the desirability and feasibility of authorizing the use
26of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to fund copayments assessed to
27Medicaid enrollees who receive nonemergency medical services in hospital emergency
28departments.
29 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health and Hospitals and the
30Department of Children and Family Services shall develop a written report addressing
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HCR NO. 96
1findings of the study requested in this Resolution, and shall submit the report to the House
2Committee on Health and Welfare and the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare no later
3than sixty days prior to the convening of the 2017 Regular Session of the Legislature of
4Louisiana.
5 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
6secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals and the secretary of the Department of
7Children and Family Services.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 96 Original 2016 Regular Session Talbot
Urges and requests the Dept. of Health and Hospitals and the Dept. of Children and Family
Services, jointly, to study the desirability and feasibility of authorizing the potential use of
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to fund copayments assessed to
Medicaid enrollees who receive nonemergency medical services in hospital emergency
departments.
Requires the departments to submit a report addressing findings of the study to the
legislative committees on health and welfare no later than 60 days prior to the convening of
the 2017 R.S.
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