Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, July 6, 2010,
Item 13
Number 13. Consider and take appropriate action on letter to united states senators kay bailey hutchinson and john cornyn regarding extension of federal medical assistance percentages funding for another six months, through june 30, 2011.
>> good morning, judge, commissioners. The -- the federal medical assistance percentage is the number that the -- that the federal government matches state money with in the medicaid program. The medicaid program, of course, pays for health care for poor, working texans, predominantly mothers and children, but with also programs for disabled and elderly populations. The matching percentage has been about 60%, which means that for every dollar the state put in, the federal government would put in about $1.50. But as part of the federal stimulus package last year, congress raised that number up to 70%, approximately 70%, which means that -- that for every dollar that the state invests in the medicaid program, we get even more money from the federal government. That ex-extension, that expansion ever the medicaid percentage is scheduled to run out at the end of this year. We are asking for that to be extended for another six months. The legislation to do that is now battled up in the u.s. Senate and that is why we're asking for letters to senators cornyn and hutchinson asking them to help pass that bill if we can. I know that sherri flemming is here in case you all have any questions about that. You have a draft of a letter that was presented to you in your backup last thursday. But there's another draft that we have done on friday night that i hope you all have copies of. We have additional copies if you need them. We also have a report from sherri's office about the impact of the f map percentage adjustment and how that has benefited the people of travis county.
>> what's the state's position on --
>> i don't know that the state has a position on it.
>> okay. We say additional uncompensated care costs must affect local taxpayers in i guess two ways, typo there by the way i think.
>> yes, sir.
>> we say reduced care for the uninsured for higher local tax rates. Can we be more factual and stronger than that?
>> let me call upon ms. Flemming.
>> do we know the amount of -- of huh? Of cost. That might be shifted to travis county. Without this legislation.
>> that -- that's sort of hard for us to quantify. It is probably our health care partners who would have a better sense of that and i think in some of the information that we were able to get from the -- from central health, the travis county health care district. They are not real optimistic that efforts at getting this -- getting this -- this extended are going to be very successful, but that would be something that they would have to speak to. I can't speak to the -- to the dollar amount of the impact. We can check with them, however, and see if they can quantify it.
>> what we do know is that the medicaid caseload has increased in travis county during the course of this economic recession. So this was intended as part of a -- of a federal response to that. And to try to ease the burden on local governments in providing these health care services to the poor.
>> if we do this, we are doing it in response to a request from naco.
>> yes, sir.
>> the national association of counties.
>> we might point out that central health sent a similar letters to senators cornyn and hutchinson earlier this month with respect to -- to continuing the f map increase through june of next year.
>> one sentence that i pointed to would justify our meddling, so the stronger it is i think the better. Otherwise, i'm supportive. I mean if we can have stronger language in that one sentence.
>> i think the other thing that's important to note, judge, is that we know that our programs are emergency driven. So to the extent that other resources are available, it helps us in terms of the number of folks who are seeking assistance through our programs. When families have to choose between their health care costs and their rent or their utilities, that has a direct impact to your programs and expenditures through emergency assistance and so i believe that the loss of this additional funding will -- will certainly impact folks who are, you know, newly without health insurance, and have been unemployed for long periods of time and may have lost any -- any ancillary benefits that they may have had when they lost their employment. So it does have a direct impact to the local community in that regard.
>> i'm happy with two or three sentences if you all want to do this instead of just one. But i do think we ought to -- if we can -- but the other thing is i guess we ought to try to get this letter out of here as soon as possible. Can we authorize the county judge to sign but share it with the rest of the court --
>> i was also going to suggest that just given the -- the dearth of commissioners court members.
>> i would move to -- i would move to make the language as strong as absolutely possible and that the judge be authorized to sign on behalf of the court.
>> second.
>> but that we and you will see the language before that. Okay. So we have --
>> we will have it back to you in an hour.
>> take a little more time than that, mr. Eckstein. What about 3:00 this afternoon?
>> that's fine, judge.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank you all very much. We contacted mr. Mcdonald ?
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, July 6, 2010 2:35 PM
