Weekly Email: Week of May 22
I. Conference Call Information (Thursday, May 26)
Call for Suggestions: The Next Private Insurance Conference Call
II. In the News
Maryland Governor Vetoes the Fair Share Health Care Bill
Discounts for Minnesota’s Uninsured at Some Hospitals
III. Helpful Information
New Possible Deadline for FSA Spending
From the AHRQ: Choosing and Using a Health Plan
IV. HAP's Mailing to Legislators, Attorneys General, and Insurance Commissioners
I. Conference Call Information (Thursday, May 26)
Immigrants' Rights to Medicaid and SCHIP
A conference call on immigrant eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP will be on Thursday, May 26 at 1:00 Eastern time. The agenda includes the following items:
Overview of federal requirements,
Overview on new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance about reimbursement to providers of emergency health services to undocumented immigrants, and
Outreach by consumer health assistance programs to the immigrant population.
Tanya Broder of the National Immigration Law Center and Adam Gurvitch of the New York Immigrant Coalition will be our guest speakers. Some background materials for the call are now posted, and we will be posting further information on that page prior to the call. We are also interested in posting links to your outreach and community education materials for immigrant communities. Please contact Cheryl Fish-Parcham at cparcham@healthassistancepartnership.org or Meredith King at mking@healthassistancepartnership.org if you have information to share.
Call for Suggestions: The Next Private Insurance Conference Call
We are seeking from programs that provide counseling on private insurance suggestions of topics or issues for our next call. Please write to Nedra Commodore at ncommodore@healthassistancepartnership.org with any suggestions.
The information about participating in the HAP conference calls is limited to staff members (paid or volunteer) of consumer health insurance assistance programs because of HAP's funding restrictions. If you are a staff member of a consumer health insurance assistance program and should be getting the conference call information, please email Avis Hall at awise@healthassistancepartnership.orgwith your request and information about your program.
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II. In the News
Maryland Governor Vetoes the Fair Share Health Care Bill
Last Thursday, May 19, Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich (R) vetoed the Fair Share Health Care bill (also known as the Wal-Mart bill because Wal-Mart is the only company thought to be affected by the bill) which had earlier passed both houses of the state legislature by large margins. The bill would have established a Fair Share Health Care fund into which for-profit employers with 10,000 or more employees that did not spend at least eight percent of their payroll on health insurance would have been required to submit payments to Maryland's health program for low-income residents. Supporters of the bill say it is only fair that Wal-Mart make such payments as some Wal-Mart employees are also Medicaid beneficiaries.
The legislature may vote to override the veto but not until next January when the legislature reconvenes. Wal-Mart is threatening that if it does, it will not build a planned distribution center, expected to employ 800+, in the state.
Discounts for Minnesota’s Uninsured at Some Hospitals
As a result of an agreement between Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch and the Minnesota Hospital Association, uninsured Minnesotans with annual household incomes at or below $125,000 will receive a break on their charges at certain hospitals. So far, four hospital systems (Allina Hospitals & Clinics, North Memorial Health Care, Park Nicollet Health Services, and HealthEast Care System for a total of sixteen hospitals) have signed the voluntary agreement, and Mayo Clinic, which has hospitals in eight cities across the state, is expected to do so within thirty days. As part of the agreement, hospitals will charge uninsured patients with incomes at or below the $125,000 limit the same discounted price that is billed for patients in managed care plans. Additionally, these hospitals will change their debt-collection practices by allowing patients to establish payment plans and to challenge potential billing errors. A similar agreement was made in March between Attorney General Hatch and Fairview Health Services.
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III. Helpful Information
New Possible Deadline for FSA Spending
The U.S. Treasury Department announced last week that, as of this year, employers which offer flexible spending accounts (FSAs) for health care and dependent care expenses can let employees use any funds placed into the account during a calendar year for several weeks into the following calendar year--until March 15. Not all employers offer FSAs, but for those that do, FSAs allow their workers to put in a certain amount of pre-tax dollars into an account and then to submit receipts for allowable expenses so that they are reimbursed with pre-tax dollars. Prior to this recent ruling, employees lost whatever funds were not spent by December 31. As health care expenses are generally difficult to predict, many employees either spent money remaining in the FSA at the end of the year on medical expenses that they might not otherwise have spent or had to return their unspent funds to their employers. Treasury Secretary John Snow noted in a statement that the "new rule will give workers with FSAs more time to pay for medical and dependent care expenses and will ease the year-end spending rush prompted by the prior rule." Some believe that a March 15 deadline will also encourage more to establish an account. According to the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation, slightly less than a third of the 22 million employees who can have an FSA establish an FSA. However, employers do not have to accept the March 15 deadline; it is optional.
From the AHRQ: Choosing and Using a Health Plan
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality announced last week that it has updated a previously published tool summary, Choosing and Using a Health Plan. Written for patients and consumers, the tool may be helpful to some individuals, especially those who can benefit from definitions of terms such as "point-of-service plans" and "indemnity plans."
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IV. HAP's Mailing to Legislators, Attorney Generals, and Insurance Commissioners
The Health Assistance Partnership is about to mail Consumer Health Assistance Programs: A Model Act for Legislators and Advocates and Assistance for Health Care Consumers: Key Provisions of State Laws to state legislators on health and insurance committees, state attorneys general, and state insurance commissioners. This mailing will promote your programs and help key policymakers think about ways to strengthen the laws that establish your programs. However, if you would prefer that we not mail these publications to any of these people in your state, please let us know to whom you would not like it sent and why by Friday, June 3: send an e-mail to Christin Engelhardt, Outreach and Publications coordinator, at cle@healthassistancepartnership.org.
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