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"I've been working with the PA Chamber for over 25 years now and feel that the organization is very attuned to business issues. The chamber does a good job of educating lawmakers to the views of all businesses in the Commonwealth." - Rep. Joe Markosek, D-Allegheny
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Medical Assistance Policy Medical Assistance (MA) refers to Pennsylvania's comprehensive health care programs that provide federally-entitled Medicaid to eligible individuals, including low-income adults, uninsured children, the elderly and the disabled. The Commonwealth, however, has additional MA programs that go beyond federal Medicaid guidelines, such as the state-funded children's health insurance program (CHIP). Pennsylvania's MA programs represent one of the largest components of the Commonwealth's General Fund budget, with MA expenses consuming nearly one-fifth of all state revenues. Diminishing federal assistance for Medicaid, escalating health care costs and increased utilization of MA programs all have increased the fiscal pressures on Pennsylvania's General Fund budget. Private health care providers have similar challenges in meeting the demands of Pennsylvania's uninsured. With shrinking government payments and increased utilization of services, health care providers face significant cost increases. These costs are either shifted to the private insurance marketplace or leads to ever-escalating uncompensated care. Either way, the burden on individual taxpayers, providers and employers are greater than ever. While the issues facing Pennsylvania's MA programs and the impact that uncompensated care has on the budget process has become commonplace, the Chamber believes that the performance of these programs is exacerbated by the Commonwealth's poor business climate. The uncompetitive barriers to job creation that exist in Pennsylvania make it difficult for citizens to find high-quality jobs that provide private-sector health care coverage. As a long-term strategy, the Chamber encourages critical improvements to Pennsylvania's business climate in order to spur private sector job creation thereby minimizing individuals' dependence on the Commonwealth's MA programs. In the meantime, critical steps need to be taken in order to re-establish balance to our MA programs. The Chamber supports an extensive redesign of Pennsylvania's MA programs so that we can effectively and efficiently utilize resources to provide health care to individuals in the most need of assistance. Specifically, the Chamber supports the following concepts:
• Stabilizing or reducing the MA budget through eligibility and benefit changes that insure only the neediest individuals have necessary medical coverage;
The Chamber opposes:
• A restructuring of how services are delivered and financed by utilizing the most cost-effective delivery and payment systems that are available; • An expansion of HealthChoices by using private managed care organizations that have proven to have cost-effective, quality delivery systems. • An analysis of existing programs with the subsequent elimination of all unnecessary programs where the cost outweighs the benefit. • Medicaid reform efforts that jeopardize patient safety and access to affordable, quality health care; • Increases in private insurance reimbursements or a tax shift onto employers and commercial payers as a means to replace diminishing MA program revenues, and; • The expansion of additional program eligibility and benefits beyond federal Medicaid requirements. |
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