SENATOR STEVE WEST, LAWMAKERS QUESTION IRRESPONSIBLE EXPANSION OF MEDICAID PROGRAM
FRANKFORT, KY (May 9, 2023) – The Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee (ARRS), co-chaired by Senator Steve West, R-Paris, met on Tuesday to review administrative regulations. A notable agenda item included the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) presenting a new set of administrative regulations expanding Medicaid coverage for vision, dental, and hearing services.
Lawmakers expressed concerns because the current services provided in the Medicaid Program are not adequately covered, and CHFS has shown an unwillingness to address these inadequacies. However, the cabinet remains resolved to expand vision, dental, and hearing services while simultaneously cutting Medicaid rates for behavioral health services. Senate Bill 65, sponsored by West and enacted in the 2023 Legislative Session, found the regulation in question deficient.
“What we are witnessing here from CHFS is an overt effort to ignore duly enacted legislation and, to make it worse, it is a poor administration of the Medicaid program and those it serves,” West said. ”We want to provide the highest-quality services to the most people we can, but this isn’t the appropriate way to achieve that goal. We can’t afford the current Medicaid program, so why would we expand services in an already unsustainable program? The regulation discussed today is irresponsible, strains the system, and picks winners and losers. Taxpayers and Kentucky residents deserve better.”
Subcommittee members effectively showed how Kentucky’s current Medicaid program does not adequately cover behavioral health services, EMS treatment and waiver services.
Find playback of the ARRS Subcommittee meeting HERE via the Legislative Research Commission YouTube Channel.
BACKGROUND:
CHFS filed the original administrative regulations expanding Medicaid coverage for vision, dental, and hearing services on Dec. 29, 2022. These regulations were found deficient by the administrative regulation review subcommittee on Feb. 14. SB 65 found certain administrative regulations created before March 30, 2023, deficient by the Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee and “null, void, and unenforceable.”
SB 65 was enacted in the 2023 Legislative Session and carried an emergency designation. The bill’s provisions went into effect as soon as it was filed with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s Office. The bill, which nullified the Dec. 29, 2022, administrative regulation, states CHFS “shall be prohibited from promulgating administrative regulations that are identical to, or substantially the same as, the proposed amendments” relating to deficient administrative regulations expanding dental, vision, and hearing services until June 1, 2024.
SB 65 also allowed the Department for Medicaid Services to reimburse providers based on Jan. 1, 2023, fee schedule for services rendered or initiated before its effective date. This language was added in response to providers’ concerns they would not be reimbursed for the already-ordered dentures due to the regulations.
The Cabinet filed new emergency and ordinary administrative regulations expanding Medicaid coverage for dental, vision, and hearing services on April 12, 2023 – two weeks after the final passage of SB 65—the veto of the Governor notwithstanding.
REGULATION FOUND DEFICIENT FOR THE SECOND TIME:
The regulation was found deficient by the subcommittee. It is the second time the committee has expressed its concerns and opinions on the matter, making it very clear where lawmakers stand.
“If the cabinet chooses to move forward on this, any negative effects on Kentuckians will rest squarely at the feet of the cabinet and this administration,” West said.
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