McClellan Recommends Individual State Medicaid Waivers To Address Hurricane Evacuees
CMS Administrator Mark McClellan on Tuesday said that individual state Medicaid waivers, such as the one for Texas announced on Sept. 15, will allow Hurricane Katrina evacuees to "get access to health care now instead of waiting for Congress to act" on legislation, CQ HealthBeat reports. At a Center for Health Transformation conference on Medicaid, McClellan said that such waivers would prove more effective than "imposing new burdens or mandates."
According to McClellan, states could use such waivers to provide hurricane evacuees with extra Medicaid benefits. "I don't think it's necessary or helpful or timely to set up new federal systems to deal with this problem," McClellan said. In addition, McClellan said that Medicaid reform is "even more urgent" since the hurricane and that Congress should not postpone reform plans as part of the budget reconciliation process. He said that expanded use of generic medications and stricter asset transfer rules could reduce Medicaid spending "without reducing benefits to anyone." McClellan "also did his best to dampen rumors that the Medicare drug benefit" would not begin as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2006, CQ HealthBeat reports.
Some House and Senate Republicans have called for a delay of the Medicare prescription drug benefit to help offset the cost of hurricane relief efforts. McClellan said, "This drug coverage will be available on time. ... I don't know how many times I can say that" (CQ HealthBeat, 9/20).