PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona is moving to restore some government-subsidized health care coverage for children of low-income families as part of a plan to provide several major hospitals with more Medicaid dollars to pay for serving people without insurance.
The two-year plan submitted for federal approval in mid-November would allow enrollment of 19,000 children now on a waiting list for KidsCare, the state's version of the federally sponsored Children's Health Insurance Program, officials said Monday.
However, more than 128,000 children are on the waiting list, so the proposed expansion would still leave most of those children without care.
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The proposal also wouldn't return the federal-state program to levels of enrollment seen before enrollment was frozen in 2010 to help balance the state budget. The program now has approximately 15,000 children — down from 45,820.
"It isn't a comprehensive solution. It's an effort to improve our situation," said Karen Mlawsky, CEO of the University of Arizona Health Network.
Gov. Jan Brewer hailed the plan as a "creative solution" that doesn't require additional state dollars while providing a "bridge" to restore some coverage until the fate of the federal health care overhaul is decided.
Arizona has adopted some of the broadest and most stringent Medicaid reductions made by states. Along with the KidsCare freeze, those steps have included a since-reversed elimination of funding for some medical transplants, cuts in payment rates to providers, and phase-outs and enrollment freezes on several eligibility categories.
The new plan's financing hinges on having several hospitals in Phoenix and Tucson chip in $101 million annually for two years, with the federal government matching twice that amount. Most of the money would pay for unreimbursed care provided to people without health coverage, but a fraction would go toward KidsCare.
A spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement that "CMS supports the direction of coupling an initiative to assist hospitals in the state with coverage improvements for children. CMS suggested this approach to the state last month, are happy that they have put a proposal together and we look forward to working with them on the specifics they have put forward."
Federal officials previously rejected an Arizona proposal for increased Medicaid funding for uncompensated care, but state officials said they believe the new proposal's inclusion of the new component on KidsCare will help its chances.
The participating hospitals are Phoenix Children's Hospital and Maricopa Integrated Health Systems in Phoenix and two University of Arizona hospitals in Tucson.
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