Medicaid

[Guest guest]

Heidi, thank you so much for this information about Medicaid. This

Medicaid Restructuring continues to be a monster in terms of what it

is really going to mean to GA families. I participate on a Federal

Issues Coalition panel put together by the DD Council and we were

discussing this at our meeting earlier this week. Pat Nobbie is such

a great resource about this issue and had so much wonderful

information to share. It seems our Governor just doesn't have a

really good handle on what some of the things he is proposing really

mean day to day for GA families and parents. If his proposal to "

waive " certain Medicaid standards and protections for Medicaid

recipients gets the go ahead, Georgia will have more relaxed rules

and can make major changes in services but our open ended access to

Federal Medicaid funds will be affected. It would cap Federal

payments which would limit access, reduce key services, and

seriously impair the quality of care that folks with disabilities

receive. His proposal to eliminate EPSDT is nothing but absurd .

I am concerned also that so much of the pending Federal legislation

that awaits action ( Family Opportunity Act, MICASSA, and Money

Follows the Person are dependent in many ways with how this Medicaid

thing plays out.