HOUSE COMMITTEE ON

AUDIT & HUMAN SERVICES BUDGET REFORM COMMITTEE

February 06, 2003 Hearing Room 50

3:00 PM Tapes 20 - 21

MEMBERS PRESENT: Rep. Ben Westlund, Chair

Rep. Steve March, Vice-Chair

Rep. Susan Morgan

Rep. Jeff Merkley

Rep. Jeff Kruse

Rep. Alan Bates

MEMBER EXCUSED: Rep. Randy Miller

GUEST MEMBERS: Rep. Gordon Anderson

Rep. Carolyn Tomei

Rep. Laurie Monnes Anderson

Rep. Billy Dalto

STAFF PRESENT: Rick Berkobien, Administrator

Kelly Fuller, Committee Assistant

ISSUES HEARD: Informational Meeting

Jean Thorne, Director Department of Humans Services

“Department of Human Services and Relationship of Services to the Oregon Health Plan” Part II

These minutes are in compliance with Senate and House Rules. Only text enclosed in quotation marks reports a speaker’s exact words. For complete contents, please refer to the tapes.

TAPE/#	Speaker	Comments
TAPE 20, A
001	Chair Westlund	Meeting called to order at 3:10 p.m. and opens the committee meeting by introducing invited guest Jean Thorne
INFORMATIONAL MEETING
010	Thorne	Director, Department of Human Services. Offers a chart describing the comparison of Oregon and others states in regards to the percentages and population of people that are on Medicaid. (EXHIBIT A).
065	Rep. Bates	Asks for the amount of general fund dollars the government provides.
071	Thorne	Explains how the Oregon Health Plan can provide lower cost services and managed care.
075	Rep. Bates	Asks about other states having higher percentages of population which will drag down federal match dollars for overall programs.
090	Thorne	Notes California in the early 90’s had more people with benefit coverage but had a skinny benefit package.
099	Rep. Kruse	Asks about reimbursement rates of other states.
103	Thorne	Asks for clarification of the question.
116	Rep. Kruse	Explains he wants to know how we compare with reimbursement rates of all states.
117	Thorne	Asks if he is looking more for the figures on acute care or long term care.
119	Berkobien	Clarifies wanting to have current data in both categories.
130	Thorne	Answers and states she will look to see what is available as other states measure in different values, and submits and summarizes written testimony describing extended Medicaid benefits (EXHIBIT B).
165	Kruse	Asks does that exclude prescriptions and herbal medicines.
	Thorne	Answers it covers everything.
195	Monnes Anderson	Asks for further clarification about prescriptions.
205	Thorne	Points out what the process is for receiving veteran’s benefits and explains length of time to receive medical treatment.
224	Rep. G. Anderson	Comments on people going out of town and receiving duplicate coverage.
230	Thorne	States she will have her staff follow up and responds to Rep. Merkley’s question asked at a previous meeting regarding the figures on suicides.
270	Merkley	Offers thanks for the research that’s been done.
275	Thorne	Points out that Medicaid is a health plan that’s more than just an insurance program.
303	Rep. Monnes-Anderson	Relays comments about public perception on spending Oregon Health Plan (OHP) dollars on Illegal citizens and asks for information to better answer the questions of the public.
325	Thorne	Describes the qualifications and proof needed for benefits and indicates she will provide written information to the committee.
375	Rep. Monnes-Anderson	Asks about illegal aliens in this country that get sick and where are these costs absorbed.
387	Thorne	Reminds the members about the Citizenship Alien Waved Emergency Medical (CAWEM) program.
399	Rep. Tomei	Asks if this is the program that provides the money for hospitalization.
400	Thorne	Explains CAWEM is the organization that pays for these services.
449	Rep. Tomei	Asks if an illegal alien is hospitalized do they have to show any financial information.
451	Thorne	Explains the hospital gathers information to determine if they meet the financial criteria.
TAPE 21, A
025	Rep. Kruse	Asks what determines a person legal.
	Thorne	Answers there are documents required and she will inquire about the legality and respond back.
035	Rep. Kruse	Comments this is a system problem not just for health plans.
	Berkobien	Notes he has that information from the 5^th special session and will bring it to the next committee meeting.
050	Rep. Bates	Inquires about people on the Oregon Health Plan needing services out of state.
056	Thorne	Explains process of payment to these hospitals.
054	Lynn Read	Administrator, Office of Medical Assistance Program. Offers information on contiguous providers.
071	Rep. G. Anderson	Asks if the mandates are state or federal.
	Read	Answers they are state rules.
	Rep. G. Anderson	Asks if other states have the same rules.
082	Read	Answers she does not know the specific rules and services for other states relating to Medicaid.
099	Rep. Merkley	Asks what Medicaid dollars come to us and how are the matched.
100	Thorne	Explains every year the federal government calculates matching rates and each state is provided differently.
141	Rep. Merkley	Asks what percentage of matched money does the state provide.
142	Thorne	Answers the federal government puts up the preponderance of the funds.
147	Rep. Merkley	Asks to what degree are people on the OHP plan fraudulently.
154	Thorne	Describes changes in application process and qualifications in the past and present years.
249	Rep. Bates	Inquires what does the match percentage represent in real dollars.
252	Thorne	States over 50 million.
254	Rep. Bates	Asks if the asset figure for Family health Insurance Assistance Program (FHIAP) includes group coverage.
270	Thorne	Answers yes a person cannot have over 10 thousand in liquid assets.
274	Rep. Bates	Asks if this refers to the car or house.
303	Thorne	Answers no it would be anything that a person could cash out.
310	Rep. Bates	Asks if the same person could provide services for multiple programs such as, OHP, Food Stamps and such.
320	Thorne	Explains yes it is being done but she’s not sure if that involves the food stamp program.
330	Rep. Tomei	Inquires what are the percentage of people who are cheating these programs.
340	Thorne	Responds the error rates are from 4 to 10%.
360	Rep. G. Anderson	Asks about services provided when crossing state lines.
384	Thorne	Answers she is not sure but will research and get back to the committee.
388	Rep. G. Anderson	Asks if Canada does any reimbursement for people receiving services here in Oregon.
399	Thorne	States it’s possible but needs to look into it further.
403	Chair Westlund	Asks committee for any further questions. Closes the informational meeting and adjourns 4:50 pm

EXHIBIT SUMMARY

A – Informational – DHS, prepared charts, Jean Thorne, 4 pp

B – Informational – DHS, overview of DHS, Jean Thorne, 31 pp