JACKSON - Mississippi has won federal approval for waivers to continue to provide Medicaid services to about 17,000 who would have been removed from the program under a new state law, Gov. Haley Barbour said Thursday.
Barbour said approval came Wednesday. He said the waivers took effect Thursday.
Lawmakers, at Barbour's urging, passed legislation last spring that dropped 65,000 people in the Poverty Level Aged and Disabled category from Medicaid. They said it was a cost saving move, as most of those people would be eligible for Medicare, which is wholly funded by the federal government.
"I want to thank the legislators who recognized in order to keep Medicaid financially sustainable, we had to make reform," Barbour said during Thursday's news conference.
The waivers will cover 17,000 in the PLADs category who need anti-rejection drugs after organ transplants, chemotherapy, kidney dialysis or anti-psychotic drugs. Included in the group are 5,000 who are not eligible for Medicare, said Medicaid director Dr. Warren Jones.
Jones said there is room to add more people if needed.
The waivers cover a five-year cycle, after which the program must be re-evaluated, Jones said.
"Some people had predicted that these waivers would not be granted this quickly," Barbour said, adding that the process usually takes up to 18 months. He said officials began working during the legislative session to secure the waivers.
Barbour said Medicaid officials are continuing to contact the rest of the recipients cut from the program, assisting them with the switch to Medicare. The Medicaid benefits for PLADs will cease Oct. 1.
Jones said the waivers' initial projection cost to the Medicaid program was $23 million, but he said the figure could increase as health care costs escalate.
Some critics of the Medicaid law say the PLADs will receive reduced prescription drug benefits under Medicare, which provides $600 per year for patients' medicine.
Rims Barber, director of the Mississippi Human Services Agenda in Jackson, said Medicaid had provided "wraparound" coverage for PLADs. Barber said Medicare pays 80 percent of hospitalization costs after a deductible. He said Medicaid traditionally paid the deductible for the PLADs, plus the 20 percent.
"So the typical hospitalization for somebody, which is three days, cost them $1,000 out of pocket minimum, which Medicaid usually pays for," Barber said Thursday.
Barber also criticized the selection process for waiver coverage.
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