Washington, D.C., Officials Question Mayors Funding Request For Subsidized Insurance Program

August 14, 2007 – 10:45 pm | posted in Health Insurance

Washington, D.C., City Council Chair Vincent Gray (D) last week in a letter to district Mayor Adrian Fenty asked that Fenty justify his request to shift approximately $17 million to the district’s health care program for low-income residents who do not qualify for Medicaid, the Washington Examiner reports. The D.C. Healthcare Alliance provides no-cost care for adults, including undocumented immigrants, who have incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level and is intended to move the district closer to universal health coverage.

Enrollment in the program increased by 20,000 beneficiaries this fiscal year, “spurring a constant need for more operating revenues,” the Examiner reports. The council in December 2006 redirected $22 million to the program also in response to enrollment increases.

Gray last week cited concerns about the “rapidly burgeoning” enrollment and moved to block one-third of the funding requested by Fenty until the spending was justified. In his letter to Fenty, Gray asked for an explanation for the increases and questioned whether eligibility for the program is being verified correctly. Gray wrote, “I am concerned that, as we move towards our mutually shared goal of universal health care, we prudently grow the program ensuring the availability of required resources and implementation of clear eligibility criteria.”

A spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Health said, “Expanding access is a good thing, but we also want to be fiscally responsible and make certain that only eligible persons get enrolled into the alliance.” The D.C. Income Maintenance Administration is in charge of enrolling new members in the program. The agency rules out an applicant’s eligibility for Medicaid before verifying income and residency requirements (Neibauer, Washington Examiner, 8/7).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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