House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, has unveiled a comprehensive program to address Virginia’s run-away Medicaid budget while preserving the quality of care for the poor and indigent. Said Howell in a prepared statement issued this afternoon:
The current Medicaid system is an impediment to better health for Virginians. It has suffered from the inertia of maintaining the status quo. Now, it faces fiscal instability in the short term and – if not remedied – a potential reduction in access to quality care over the long run. Therefore, we want to reform Medicaid and make it a program that offers better health outcomes at lower costs for the neediest Virginians.
Highlights include:
- Enroll Medicaid recipients into Health Savings Accounts, with the goal of instilling a sense of “personal responsibility” among Medicaid recipients.
- Expand disease management programs
- Encourage the use of electronic medical records and benefit transfers
- Establish small business insurance pools
- Provide tax credits for long-term care insurance
For details, see the House press release here and accompanying handout here.
I’ll be interested to see what others say, but at first blush this looks very promising. As Del. Phil Hamilton says, “The positive reforms we are introducing today are not the cuts on services and participation levels that have been the hallmark of changes to Medicaid in other states. Instead, after a comprehensive review of how state government supplies needed health care, we realized we must restore integrity – on an individual, systemic, and fiscal level – to this program. “
