During this legislative session, our Senators and Representatives are making serious decisions about Medicaid at a Federal and State level. If Medicaid is important to you, you need to take action NOW.

Here’s the latest news on decisions made as of today:

Eliminate SSI (Federal) – It has been suggested for the Congressional Budget to eliminate SSI for all disabled children. Read the proposal.

Medicaid Freeze (State) – A bill has been proposed to freeze Medicaid, not allowing new enrollees and only renewing current enrollees if they fit the right conditions. It’s splitting hairs to say this is just a Medicaid Expansion freeze. Medicaid Expansion still only allows people in poverty to access healthcare. It takes specific requirements to be approved.

• THV Report
• Read the Bill HB1465
• Watch the Public Health Committee discuss the bill on 2/9/17.

The Waiver List Denial (State) – Nearly 3000 people who have been waiting years to be approved for the waiver will have to wait longer. Our Legislators rejected a bill that would have solved that problem.

• KATV Report
• Read the Bill HB1300.
• See how the committee voted. It never made it to be voted upon by the full assembly.

If you want to stop this, it’s time for every single one of us to take action. Do NOT be silent!

Contact your legislators. See a list of all of their contact information.

If you have contacted your representatives, but they have not responded, call the news stations to let them know that this is important to you! We need to stand together!

• KARK: 501-340-4488 | news4@kark.com
• KATV: 501-324-7760 | newsroom@katv.com
• KTHV: 501-244-4564 | news@thv11.com
• FOX16: 501-340-4488 | news@fox16.com

Tell others about this website and Facebook group so that they can take action too!

Here is a list of all Arkansas Legislators:

To find out your district, use this easy map!

All of this information and more is located here.

The governor speaks about the future of healthcare and some of his plans for Arkansas, including his view on block grants. Click the image to view the video.

If you want to write the Governor to tell him that Medicaid is important to you, click here!

Thanks to Rebekah James for this report. She offers a good perspective with the following experience:

• Member of Medicaid Saves Lives
• Member of Therapy Workgroup
• Owner/Executive Director of Arkansas Therapy Outreach
• Practicing Speech-Language Pathologist

The BH-DD Provider-Led Coalition group is organized primarily of mental, behavioral and substance abuse treatment provider associations along with the Developmental Disabilities Provider Association (DDPA). The meeting was aimed at forming a committee and several subcommittees to focus the group’s work towards forming a provider-led managed care model by beginning work on the “BH-DD Provider-Owned Arkansas Shared-Savings Entity” (a PASSE). Colorado (Beacon) and Indiana (Anthem) are other states being reviewed for their implementation of a provider-led or hybrid managed care model. A traditional model is not preferred by any known providers, and this group is formed by those in support of the hybrid model.

At this time, tier 1 which is loosely termed to include most therapy services for those who do not meet the waiver (Tier 2) or institutional level of care (Tier 3) criteria are not grouped with the current provider-led managed care as discussed by DHS. With a reduced need to coordinate complex medical care, the Tier 1 population savings are intended to have been met in part through the therapy threshold and prior authorization system to provide the necessary level of therapy care while contributing to the requirement to balance an overall budget. The “soft therapy cap” as some refer to it is still planned to be implemented on July 1, 2017 assuming there are no issues with the RFP or contract to place the vendor for the prior authorization piece. Additionally, the Tier 1 behavioral health population is not expected to be included in the managed care model being discussed. DHS has proposed excluding tier one for both BH and DD populations and suggested their care would be managed by the Patient Centered Medical Homes. The group that met today is seeking more data from DHS to assist in developing a more accurate population criteria for Tiers 1, 2, and 3.

**This is my understanding from discussions, observations and notes provided during the meeting.