Arlington County Government, VA Most Recent, 8 Oct 2018

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From YouTube: County Board Wrap-Up: Medicaid Expansion

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ATV's monthly conversation with County Board members on the major issues discussed at September's Board meeting.

A

So, let's dive right in with the decision to expand Medicaid coverage in Virginia. What does that mean specifically for Arlington? So this is a really.

B

Exciting moment for the Commonwealth, it's been a long time in coming and it's an exciting moment for Arlington County they're about 12,500 Arlington households already that apply or skooby that qualify for Medicaid that are enrolled in Medicaid.

B

This expansion means that there are new groups of people, arlington ian's, who are adults without disabilities, for example, or those whose income was previously considered too high to qualify and yet who really do struggle to get by in Arlington County the expansion of the Medicaid program to cover these individuals we expect will bring in about 3,000, more Arlington, ian's, ultimately qualified and enrolled.

B

This is just an incredible moment: the opportunity for people to get high-quality health care, preventative health care and and really establish that firm basis to fully participate in the economy in school and public life. We're excited about it now.

A

The board voted to accept funding for the state from the state for that house that specifically going to be used.

B

Absolutely so we did accept some money from the state and we will also likely have to appropriate some local dollars as well largely to handle the number of applications that we expect will come in the full times, employees that will be required to do that kind of eligibility, work and analysis, and we expect we'll probably have to process about 7,000 new applications. I mentioned that we expect about 3,000 darling Tonia's to qualify, but even with the expansion, the terms are sometimes a little unclear.

B

People don't know whether they qualify, and so we need those dedicated staff. Folks who really understand the ins and outs of the qualification to do that analysis. It's never a simple.

A

Process, especially.

B

Something involving the state and federally now is.

A

There any downside to this expansion absolutely.

B

One of the things we're really concerned about and have been working closely, not only with our own Department of Human Services, but actually our allies and counterparts across the state through the Virginia, Municipal, League, Virginia, Association of counties and others- is that, unfortunately, as Medicaid was expanded, the state forecasted that that meant that clients of our Community Services Board, which is the local entity that serves individuals with behavioral health, mental health and since abuse needs, and they forecasted that, because more of those clients would now be Medicaid eligible, they could go ahead and cut that funding to community services boards.

B

Is you might imagine it's not that simple, especially the funding being cut starting this fiscal year, so starting July, 1 Medicaid eligibility won't even go live until January 1, so we're already looking at a six months gap where we can't get reimbursements, and we also think that they're forecasted reimbursement levels are a little rosy. We're gonna have a lot of people who do receive services from our CSB that, even under generously expanded Medicaid still won't qualify. This is at a time where we can probably least afford cuts to our critical safety net.

B

We have a challenging budget picture that will spend many of the next months talking about, and it's also a time when we know that the needs of our community with regard to mental and behavioral health and addiction, those needs are greater than ever. So we are working again with our counterparts around the state to try to make a pitch for a legislative solution for that in the upcoming session. Okay,.

A

So and in the meantime, what can folks do who may be affected by these cuts? Well,.

B

So I think individuals will probably we hope, will not feel those cuts directly. It's going to be really important. I think it remains really important to this board, as well as to our staff, to ensure that that very critical safety net for people with mental and behavioral health needs stays intact, but it will become a pretty significant burden for for local tax dollars to make up, which just creates one more tension on our already limited budget. So I want to make sure that no one feels discouraged from seeking the services that they need.

B

It's incredibly important that those services will remain intact, but interested individuals who would like to help raise their voice to the General Assembly and the governor are welcome to do so and we'd love their help in getting those cuts to the CSB. Is the Community Services Board restored.