Amend Floor Amendment No. 67 on page 57 of the amendment
packet by striking everything after "Medicaid Eligibility
Determinations for Children." and substituting the following:
"Out of funds appropriated above in Goal B, Medicaid:
(a) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission ("the commissioner") shall, to the greatest
extent possible, diminish errors which create barriers that wrongly
deny or delay coverage for which a child is eligible.
(1) In accordance with federal regulations, the
commissioner shall work to provide that children are screened
simultaneously for eligibility for the Medicaid program and the
state child health plan using a consolidated application; and
(2) once the eligibility procedures are complete, all
children identified as eligible for the Medicaid program should be
automatically enrolled without further application or
qualification.
(b) The commissioner shall ensure that the processing time
for applications and eligibility redeterminations for the Medicaid
program meet or exceed the performance levels realized in state
fiscal year 2004 by ensuring that the private and public
components, including call centers, of the eligibility and
enrollment system for the Medicaid program are adequately staffed
and trained. In addition, the commissioner shall ensure that all
computer systems that support the eligibility and enrollment
systems are performing properly.
(c) If for any reason a child becomes ineligible for the state
child health plan program, the Health and Human Services Commission
shall, before terminating the child's benefits under the program,
determine whether the child is eligible for the Medicaid program,
based on the information currently available to the commission. If
the commission determines that the child is eligible, the
commission shall enroll the child in the Medicaid program without
further application or qualification, unless the child's parent
objects to enrollment. The commission shall notify a parent of the
child's eligibility for the Medicaid program and automatic
enrollment in that program as soon as practicable after eligibility
has been determined.
The intent of this amendment is that it be revenue neutral,
and that these provisions be completed within funds appropriated
above in Goal B.