Increasing Medicaid access to 41,000 more Alaskans will save the state several million dollars per year according to Gov. Bill Walker’s administration.
The savings are expected to come from shifting health care costs the state currently pays that could be covered by federal Medicaid dollars. For instance, the Alaska Department of Corrections should save $4.1 million next fiscal year by having federal Medicaid funds pay for inpatient treatment of inmates done outside of a correctional institution. Those services are covered if the inmate is otherwise eligible for Medicaid, according to the DHSS report, “The Healthy Alaska Plan: A Catalyst for Reform.”
Walker said he hopes to launch the plan sometime in July; the state fiscal year begins July 1. More than 20,000 new enrollees are expected in the 2016 fiscal year and the number should plateau at about 26,500 by 2018.
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority will “graciously” cover about $1.3 million in administrative costs, including staff to cover enrollment and expanded payments, in the first year, Health and Social Services Commissioner Valerie Davidson said. That will allow the DHSS to develop a plan to either take on the work internally or contract it out.
The federal government will cover all of the expansion cost projected at $145.4 million in fiscal year 2016 other than administrative expenses. In 2017, a $3.8 million state match will be required to get $170.6 million from the federal government. By fiscal year 2021 the match approaches 10 percent; the state will contribute $19.5 million of the overall cost estimated at $224.5 million, the report states — if the Legislature signs off.
See Full Story Here
image credit Elwood Brehmer, AJOC
