For Immediate Release ( hcop_press_statement_on_global_waiver_hearing_08-04-2008.pdf 89.99 Kb ):

Contact: Meghan Purvis August 4, 2008      Ocean State Action 401-463-5368

Health Care Organizing Project Urges Close Scrutiny of Global Medicaid Waiver Application

The group cautions the waiver proposal is "unnecessary, radical, risky and wrong for Rhode Island”

CRANSTON:  Members of the Health Care Organizing Project (HCOP) issued a call today to the people of Rhode Island to bring a critical eye to the joint hearing of the Senate and House Finance Committees scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, August 5th at 1pm at the State House. The unusual August meeting of the Finance Committees is an important step in the ongoing process the state is pursuing to negotiate a global Medicaid waiver with the Federal Government.

Karen Malcolm, Executive Director of Ocean State Action, who is working on this issue with the 24 organizations that comprise the Health Care Organizing Project, states; “The prospect of this global waiver at this particular political and economic moment is tremendously dangerous to the people of the state of Rhode Island.  The waiver would cap the Medicaid dollars our state receives from the Federal Government and would open the door to significant cuts in Medicaid services and eligibility for thousands of seniors, children, and disabled Rhode Islanders that depend on the program for critical health care needs.”

Tuesday’s joint finance hearing is important to providing transparency in this process.  Without a full public vetting, Rhode Islanders will be left in the dark as to their family’s access to health care may be curtailed.  HCOP therefore calls on the people of the state to pay close attention as this process moves forward and to urge the Finance Committee Chairs to ask critical questions at tomorrow’s hearing.  The group provided a list of important questions that were forwarded to members of the Committee.  (see below)

The waiver application, released publicly last week by the Executive Office of Health & Human Services is the result of broad leeway provided them in the 2009 state budget to seek the global waiver from Federal authorities as part of the $67 million Medicaid cost cutting strategy of the Carcieri Administration.  Malcolm notes, “The Health Care Organizing Project is sounding the alarm today because we must do all we can to bring public scrutiny to this plan and to lend an alternative perspective to the Carcieri administration’s rational for moving forward.”
The Carcieri administration has stated the waiver will provide flexibility for the state to reform the Medicaid system to cut costs.  But, as Malcolm points out; “Overwhelmingly, health care experts in Rhode Island agree that the waiver is unnecessary, radical, risky, and wrong for Rhode Island.”   She points to the plan to restructure the state’s long-term care system which has been in statute for some time under the details of the state’s Perry-Sullivan act.  To date, the state has failed to implement the shifts outlined under Perry-Sullivan.  Malcolm fears: “The waiver isn’t necessary for us to reform our long-term care system, Perry-Sullivan already does that. Instead, “the waiver creates a three-tiered eligibility formula that could mean thousands would be denied access to needed services just to cut costs.” Health Care Organizing Project c/o Ocean State Action, 99 Bald Hill Road, Cranston, RI 02920

The waiver plan outlined by the Carcieri Administration in his $67 million Medicaid cost-cut to the 2009 state budget would set a national precedent that is strikingly similar in intent to plans pushed by the Bush Administration to fundamentally change the Federal Medicaid program. These efforts have always failed, even when Republicans controlled Congress, and for good reason.  Health care for children, seniors, and the severely disabled has broad bi-partisan support and is generally recognized as a basic right – and the right thing to do – for more than forty years.

Malcolm noted; “Now we’re seeing the latest attempt to execute the right-wing agenda here in our own state.”  Several Governors with close ties to the Bush Administration have worked to achieve these waivers, including his brother in Florida.  Other state legislatures have just said no, but here in Rhode Island the risks of this deal have been masked by the need to balance the state budget.

The HCOP group warns that Rhode Islanders should not be deceived that a global waiver will improve Medicaid programs or help the state budget.  In fact, the group warns, it could exacerbate our state budget-making even more, especially in 3 or 4 years when we could find ourselves short of Medicaid funds needed due to real need in Rhode Island.  Malcolm warned, “If you have an aging parent, a disabled friend, or a low-income child, their access to assistance could be lost.”

Members of HCOP called on Rhode Islanders to  urge the Finance Committee Chairmen to seek substantive answers from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services at tomorrow’s hearing, including:

• What progress has the department made in implementing already existing laws that are intended to accomplish the same shifts in long-term care spending and the enactment smart purchasing models to help achieve real improvements while responsibly managing costs?
• If current statutes were successfully enacted, is it possible to realize savings without the need to move forward on such a dangerous venture as the global waiver?
• What has the department done to engage broad community partners in the process of drafting this waiver application?
• Where in the waiver does the department address consideration of the multitude of potential negative consequences on programs, recipients and the state as whole?
• Will there be more substantive detail in the final waiver agreement still to be negotiated with CMS? • What is the likelihood of Federal approval of the waiver application?
• How will the Department improve, protect and expand services and beneficiaries to ensure quality Medicaid support for the people of the state?

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HCOP membership includes:  RI Medical Society, the United Nurses and Allied Professionals; the RI State Nurses Association; Ocean State Action; The National Association of Social Workers, RI Chapter, The American Academy of Pediatrics, RI Chapter, the RI Small Business Summit Healthcare Work Group; RI Parent Information Network Family Voices; the Senior Agenda Coalition; the Urban League of Rhode Island, the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, SEIU; the RI AFL-CIO; the RI Health Center Association, American Medical Student’s Association RI Chapter, RI Foster Parents Association, AFSCME Council 94, Progreso Latino, International Institute RI, RI Council of Community Mental Health Organizations.