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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Trujillo
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
02/05/06
HB 648
SHORT TITLE
MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN
ADULTS
SB
ANALYST Weber
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY06
FY07
$22,500.0
Recurring
General
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates SB 543
Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act
REVENUE (dollars in thousands)
Estimated Revenue
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY06
FY07
FY08
$57,500.0
$57,500.0 Recurring
Federal
Medicaid
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)
FY06
FY07
FY08 3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
Total
$41,000.0 $41,000.0 $82,000.0 Recurring General
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Human Services Department (HSD)
pg_0002
House Bill 648 – Page 2
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 648 appropriates $22.5 million from the general fund to the Human Services
Department for the purpose of financing the Medicaid program for expanded eligibility criteria.
Medicaid eligibility is expanded to include adults in benefit groups with income up to and
including 100 percent of Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $22.5 million contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general
fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 shall revert to the
general fund.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
Medicaid currently covers adults in benefit groups with gross income up to and including 85% of
FPL provided that the adult(s) have less than the current standard of need after income
deductions and exclusions. HSD estimates there are that approximately 38,500 adults under
100% FPL with at least one child and not currently covered by Medicaid. An adult must have at
least one dependent child in order to be categorically eligible. If all were covered, and assuming
the per member per month rate is $450, the cost would be $207 million per year total requiring
$58.8 million from the general fund. Based upon a take-up rate of 70%, the costs would then be
$144.9 million total and $41 million from the general fund. The appropriation in this bill of
$22.5 million would generate an additional $57.5 million in federal Medicaid match. This would
leave an unfunded requirement of about $18.5 million annually from the general fund.
Without an appropriation consistent with the increased costs it must be anticipated service or
eligibility reduction in other Medicaid areas would be required.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
The bill does not specify whether or not income disregards and exclusions would apply or if a
standard of need would still apply.
MW/mt