General Health Care
12-month continuous eligibility for children up to 21.
Continuous eligibility will help children access continuous and predictable health care and minimize “MA churn”, a phenomenon when otherwise eligible individuals are bumped off of Medicaid for failing to submit paperwork reaffirming their eligibility.
Increase in Medical Assistance Income, Asset, and Spend Down standards.
Increases the Medical Assistance Income and Asset qualifying standards. This will allow individuals in the low-income elderly and disabled category to get the support they need without being driven so deeply into poverty and brings these standards into line with other MA eligibility categories.
Modifications in statute to allow foster care youth to remain on Medical Assistance until age 26.
Essentially affords similar health insurance coverage rights to foster care youth as other youth groups. Under the Affordable Care Act, youth can remain on the health insurance plan of their parent or guardian until the age of 26. Foster care youth should not have additional barriers to health care as their peers.
Language to reduce the burden of cost-sharing under Medical Assistance.
Life Sharing is a nurturing and supportive family-style living option for adults with disabilities who are 18 years or older. Life Sharing combines the benefits of living in a family home with support to lead an independent life in community. The proposed language would direct the Department of Human Services to increase access and remove barriers to this critical service, chiefly through research, stakeholder engagement, the development of a Life Sharing Waiver. This holistic policy change would have the added benefit of increasing access to housing options and alleviating workforce shortages.
Inclusion of Tobacco Cessation Treatment into Medical Assistance.
Removes barriers to commercial tobacco cessation treatment for Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare enrollees by amending current statutes. The policy change also expands the kinds of health care practitioners that can offer cessation counseling and treatment services.
Funding increases for traditional healing practices
Traditional healing practices are a vital part of health and wellness for many communities across Minnesota. The House language calls for $2,000,000 in grants to support organizations providing traditional health services.
Personal Care Assistance/ Community First Services & Supports Rate Framework.
Increase in implementation factor in the PCA/CFSS rate framework, which brings the rate closer to the actual cost of service. This policy change will alleviate the critical workforce crisis through increased wages to PCA’s and ensure that the 44,000 Minnesotans that rely on PCA services have a PCA workforce to support them.
Adjustments to PCA driving rules.
Allows PCAs to drive clients and providers to bill for the time in transit. PCA’s need to be compensated for all the services they provide clients, and sometimes this includes transportation.
Modifications to PCA weekly hour limits.
Increasing the weekly hourly limit for parents of minors and spouses who provide PCA services for their family members, essentially honoring the work already being done by workers
Public Health Emergency Wind-Down.
There are several provisions that will help our state and Medicaid enrollees wind down from the federal public health emergency. Provisions like aligning MA-EPD and MinnesotaCare premiums with the timing of an enrollee’s first enrollment period, continuing coverage until each enrollee’s enrollment period, and allowing an extension of the Covid-19 asset limits for a short period of time will ease this transition and help ensure continuous coverage for eligible enrollees.
