Klobuchar Demands that HHS Revise Funding Rule for Crucial State Medical Services
Press Release
Klobuchar Demands that HHS Revise Funding Rule for Crucial State Medical Services
Says federal agency must follow Senate legislation
In a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar today called on the Administration to follow her recently passed Senate legislation and revise a proposed federal rule change that would have damaging effects on state-provided services to children, families and elderly patients with complicated medical needs.
The Senate this week passed legislation ordering HHS to postpone issuing new rules that govern federal funding for "Targeted Case Management," which covers comprehensive medical and social services provided by states and counties.
Officials have estimated that counties across Minnesota would lose at least $45 million annually if the proposed HHS regulations were to take effect.
"We hope you agree that this policy would have broad and troubling implications,'' Klobuchar wrote. "We ask that you take into account the Senate's clear message of opposition and stop this rule from going forward.''
The letter was signed by 17 colleagues, including Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). Klobuchar also signed a letter with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and other Senate Finance Committee members urging Secretary Levitt to act quickly in revising the rule.
The House is considering a bill similar to the Senate legislation, but any law is unlikely to take effect before the proposed HHS rule is due to take effect on March 3.
Last December, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a branch of HHS, issued a regulation that would drastically cut certain federal funding streams for case management and targeted case management services.
The regulation was issued in the wake of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which limited the scope of some Medicaid reimbursements. Klobuchar said, however, that the recent proposed rule goes far beyond the provisions of the law.
The government recently estimated that the new rule would cut Medicaid payments to states by almost twice as much as the $760 million over five years that Congress intended.
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