Statewide advocacy coalition of over 130 organizations representing the interests of Medicaid consumers Lara Kassel, Coordinator

Medicaid Matters New York Guiding Principles for Meaningful Medicaid Redesign Maintain benefits while eliminating barriers to accessing care and services. Maintain eligibility levels, and continue to streamline eligibility, enrollment and re-enrollment processes. Ensure maximum transparency and accountability in all Medicaid spending, such as aligning charity care payments to hospitals with actual services to the uninsured. Avoid across-the-board cuts to Medicaid providers; safety-net providers should be protected over better resourced, less accessible providers. Protect the safety-net providers that serve Medicaid consumers and the uninsured, so that medically underserved, low-income communities do not continue to lose access to health care services, as they have in the past.

Medicaid Matters New York Guiding Principles for Meaningful Medicaid Redesign Maximize available Federal funding to support innovation throughout the Medicaid program and ensure that funding is aimed at improving care and services. Improve quality, performance, and access to care to eliminate health disparities. Engage in monitoring and assessment to ensure changes actually benefit consumers. Continue to modernize Medicaid reimbursement to emphasize community-based primary and preventive care and long term services and supports. Care coordination and managed care proposals must have broad community input to ensure quality, innovative service design and benefit packages, and good outcomes for people with mental health needs and complex conditions. Offer provider rate incentives that encourage providers to serve people with multiple, complex needs.

Budget Impact on Seniors and People with Disabilities Access to services –Limits on therapies, enteral nutrition, footwear –Prescription drugs (Medicaid and EPIC changes) –Home care changes Managed care expansion –Elimination of exemptions/exclusions from mandatory enrollment –Managed Long Term Care Global Medicaid cap