HLS 19RS-569 ORIGINAL
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 43
BY REPRESENTATIVE BACALA
HEALTH/LDH: Urges the secretary of La. Dept. of Health to reconsider the department's
policy of excluding the majority of Medicaid enrollees from quarterly income
verification
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health to reconsider the
3 department's election to exclude roughly two-thirds of the state's Medicaid enrollees
4 from quarterly income eligibility verification.
5 WHEREAS, Medicaid is the largest expenditure in Louisiana's state budget; and
6 WHEREAS, from state fiscal year 2009-2010 to state fiscal year 2017-2018, the total
7state budget grew by nineteen percent while spending on the state Medicaid program grew
8by one hundred twenty-four percent; and
9 WHEREAS, pursuant to Louisiana's expansion of Medicaid eligibility by executive
10order in 2016, over five hundred thousand people have been newly enrolled in the state
11Medicaid program, far exceeding projections by the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH)
12of expansion-related enrollment growth; and
13 WHEREAS, cost containment in Medicaid is an urgent priority of the legislature; and
14 WHEREAS, in a report issued in November, 2018, the legislative auditor found that
15the process LDH uses to determine the eligibility of the Medicaid expansion population is
16inadequate, and that Louisiana's Medicaid expansion program may have spent as much as
17eighty-five million dollars on ineligible enrollees; and
18 WHEREAS, the federal Medicaid agency described the findings presented in this
19report as "deeply troubling" and the agency's administrator indicated that the federal
20government could seek repayment of money that the state misspent; and
Page 1 of 2 HLS 19RS-569 ORIGINAL
HCR NO. 43
1 WHEREAS, using random sampling, the legislative auditor recently found that
2roughly eight percent of Medicaid enrollees were ineligible for benefits; and
3 WHEREAS, similarly, in a recent quarterly review of roughly one-third of the
4Medicaid population for income eligibility verification purposes, LDH found that
5approximately eight percent of Medicaid enrollees were ineligible for benefits; and
6 WHEREAS, if the remaining two-thirds of Medicaid enrollees were subject to the
7same quarterly eligibility review, it is likely that a similar percentage would be found
8ineligible for benefits; however, due to the department's election to provide extended periods
9of continuous eligibility for the persons comprising this group (mainly pregnant women and
10children) through its voluntary enrollment in a maintenance of effort option offered by the
11federal Medicaid agency, no member of this population of over one million one hundred
12thousand enrollees is subject to quarterly eligibility verification.
13 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
14urge and request the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health to reconsider the
15department's election to exclude roughly two-thirds of the state's Medicaid enrollees from
16quarterly income eligibility verification.
17 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that on or before September 1, 2019, the Louisiana
18Department of Health shall submit to the House Committee on Appropriations, the Senate
19Committee on Finance, the House Committee on Health and Welfare, and the Senate
20Committee on Health and Welfare a report detailing the actions it has taken, or will take, to
21subject to quarterly income eligibility verification all Medicaid enrollees for whom such
22eligibility verification is allowed by federal policy.
23 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
24secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
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 43 Original 2019 Regular Session Bacala
Urges and requests the secretary of the La. Dept. of Health to reconsider the department's
election to exclude roughly two-thirds of the state's Medicaid enrollees from quarterly
income eligibility verification.
Page 2 of 2