Salt Lake City 83 °
Traffic / <!– Ski Report
–>Stories from last 36 hours
JUL 1, 2016 | Salt Lake City
83 ° | Traffic / <!– Ski Report
–>Stories from last 36 hours
“);
}
By ALEX STUCKEY |
The Salt Lake Tribune
The state will submit today its Medicaid expansion plan to the federal government, but the wait for health care is still far from over for the 11,000 uninsured people it’s projected to cover.
The federal government typically takes eight or nine months to go over these plans, and federal officials already told the state they’ve never approved a plan with targeted populations like this one, said Nate Checketts, the Utah Department of Health’s deputy director.
The feds assured state officials that didn’t mean the plan was automatically doomed, just that “it’s something new for them,” Checketts said.
Utah’s plan targets childless adults who are chronically homeless, involved in the justice system or in need of mental health or substance abuse treatment. It also expands coverage of low-income parents with dependent children previously not covered by Medicaid.
“);
}
“);
}
The small-scale expansion passed this year after years of debate and protests. Initially estimated to expand coverage to about 16,000 people, the $100 million in federal and state dollars set aside for the plan would cover 9,000 to 11,000 Utahns.
But in reality, the state could see more — or fewer — enrollees, Checketts said, because the federal government would not allow state officials to cap the dollar amount or the number of individuals served.
Should more people enroll in the program once it’s rolled out, he added, the department would have to ask the state for more money.
“Since we were given a fixed budget, we wanted to be careful to set targeted groups,” he said. “We didn’t want to get more applicants than we budgeted for.”
Once the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services receives the state plan, it will conduct its own public comment period on the proposal. Checketts expects negotiations on the proposal to begin in August.
State health department officials hope to begin enrolling individuals Jan. 1, 2017, but Checketts admits that time line is “optimistic.”
Checketts said the federal government could approve some parts of the proposal while axing others. If that happens, he added that policymakers such as the governor and certain lawmakers would need to decide whether to move forward with a pared-down plan.
If they said no, Checketts said, the department “would drop the whole thing.”
“We can back out,” he said. “We’re not bound to do whatever [the feds] accept.”
Utah’s public comment period in May garnered more than 130 remarks, many of which called for full Medicaid expansion.
astuckey@sltrib.com
Twitter: @alexdstuckey
<!–
–>
<!–
–>
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
Post a Comment
“);
}
‘;
comment += ”;
comment += ”;
$(“#disqus_popular_comments”).append(comment);
popularCommentsCount++;
});
if(popularCommentsCount ‘;
comment += ”;
comment += ‘
comment += ”;
comment += ”;
comment += ”;
$(“#disqus_popular_comments”).append(comment);
popularCommentsCount++;
}
});
if(popularCommentsCount == 0) {
comment = “
We’re still trying to determine which comments are the best.
Click here to see all the comments and help us decide.
“;
$(“#disqus_popular_comments”).html(comment);
$(“.commentLink”).hide();
}
}
});
}
}
});
} else {
comment = “
No comments on this story.
“;
$(“#disqus_popular_comments”).html(comment);
$(“.commentLink”).hide();
}
}
});
}
Click here to read all comments Click here to post a comment
“);
}
