Governor's Medicaid & PeachCare Waiver Proposals Gone at Least for Now
GA CURB's work to prevent Georgia from going down the dangerous path some other states have taken to scale back Medicaid benefits has paid off!
In mid-2005, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that Governor
Perdue was meeting privately with officials of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He
intended to ask CMS to “waive” certain basic Medicaid standards and
protections for Medicaid patients so that the state could make major changes
in health services under the program. In return for having the rules
relaxed, Georgia would give up its open-ended access to federal Medicaid
funds. Advocates were concerned about many features of the waiver concept
and monitored the many meetings of the Governor's "Medicaid Modernization
Work Groups." GA CURB hosted meetings to discuss the issues, met with
legislators, and reached out to other groups around the state. GA CURB
pointed out how the waiver could have drastically changed the Medicaid and
PeachCare programs in ways that hurt patients and the economy and drafted a
letter of concern o the Governor that was signed by over 40 organizations
from around the state. As a result of this pressure, Governor Perdue
announced late in the year that he would postpone any efforts to seek a
waiver to an unspecified time and that any proposal would be significantly
scaled back from his original idea.
Thanks to everyone who worked on this campaign with GA CURB for your work to protect access to health care under Medicaid and PeachCare!
As always, there is more work to do. In passing the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Congress gave states additional latitude to increase cost-sharing and to alter benefits offered under Medicaid. GA CURB will monitor Georgia's plans. Watch for developments!
To receive meeting notices and other information, please email Linda Smith-Lowe at smithlowe@earthlink.net.