January 22, 2001

For more information contact:

Stanley S. Jones, Jr.

404-817-6133

 The General Assembly was in recess today although some Committees held meetings.  Below will detail some of the day’s events: 

Budget Issues 

          The House Human Development Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Georganna Sinkfield, met today.  Some of the presentation revolved around the Department of Juvenile Justice’s needs for FY 2001 Supplemental Appropriations. 

          Not surprising was the interest by the Committee on how to advocate for more youth programming.  One such mechanism is the provision of more Wilderness programs.  Rep. Anne Mueller stressed the need for such to keep more children out of the ‘system,’ as many youthful offenders would carry forward criminal records if their problems were not handled early enough. 

Also, more gender-specific programming needs to be provided.  Reps. Sinkfield and Nan Orrock asked some pointed questions concerning the status of the State’s Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Justice.  This Agreement was entered into after abuses and problems were found within the State’s juvenile justice system.  After the Agreement was put in place, the State made some effort to improve the educational needs of the children with the Juvenile Justice system.  In discussing the educational needs, it was explained that salary levels for teachers could not be met.  There is a state-based level which is then supplemented with local/county funds.  However, the youth detention facilities are not eligible to receive the local funds.  Rep. Sinkfield also asked whether the State was meeting the needs of children with mental health/mental illness needs.  Sadly, it was reported that the State was not meeting those needs – it would appear that there are shortages of providers in certain areas of the State where the YDCs and RYDCs (treatment facilities for children) are located. 

Rep. Henrietta Turnquest also appeared before this Subcommittee and made a plea for funds to be included for Community Healthcare Outreach Workers.  These workers would be trained workers to work in local communities.  In Fulton County, a certified curriculum has been approved by the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness.  This program is a mechanism to get persons off Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in the Welfare to Work project.  Rep. Turnquest noted that the ZapAsthma program is utilizing these workers in an effort to teach parents and children about asthma and lessen the number of children being treated in emergency rooms.

Other projects mentioned were the needs for organ transplant and assistance to caregivers of Alzheimer patients. 

This Subcommittee will meet again to discuss its proposals. 

House and Senate Joint Hospital Indigent Care Study Committee 

          This Committee, co-chaired by Rep. Richard Royal and Sen. Jack Hill, met today to discuss various recommendations.  No formal action was taken.  The Committee is reviewing all of the information presented as alternatives for funding hospital indigent care and was asked by the Co-Chairs to review the list of recommended ideas to determine what looked like solid proposals.  Also, each Committee member was encouraged to provide his or her own ideas/solutions to this issue.  The Committee is looking at some broad ideas: 

I.                   Medicaid Alternatives;

II.                PeachCare Alternatives;

III.              County and Tax Supports;

IV.             General Insurance;

V.               Physicians;

VI.             Tobacco Settlement Fund Alternatives;

VII.          State Health Benefit Plan Expansion;

VIII.        General State ideas; and

IX.             Federal help. 

Under Medicaid ‘fixes,’ the following were discussed: 

-         Increase state reimbursement levels to the most recent cost report level for inpatient care and utilize the full inflation rate to establish an adequate reimbursement methodology (this is estimated to cost approximately $11 million);

-                     Reimburse outpatient services at 100% of cost for all hospitals;

-                     Increase Medicaid payments to hospitals that serve a high caseload of Medicaid, indigent, Medicare patients through an additional rate adjustment where those hospitals have high uncompensated care costs. 

Under PeachCare, some of the proposals included: 

-                     Expand the eligibility, visibility, and outreach for PeachCare; and

-                     Require all schools to establish a partnership with the providers by revising any privacy law barriers. 

County and Tax Support ideas presented included: 

-                     Provide incentives for county contributions;

-                     Offer tax credits to small businesses (with less than 50 employees) which offer healthcare benefits to their employees; and

-                     Establish a ‘match’ with State dollars for programs which would help hospitals purchase equipment or conduct capital revenue campaigns. 

State Health Benefit Plan expansion ideas proposed: 

-                     Expand the State Health Benefit Plan to offer health insurance options for part-time workers;

-                     Encourage use of local facilities by enrollees by lowering the co-payment rate if an enrollee selects a facility in his or her own home county rather than travelling to a facility outside the area (providing that the care is available); and

-                     Require any state contractor to carry basic health insurance for its employees. 

Some of the other ideas under consideration: 

-                     Require hospitals not meeting their indigent care levels to pay a ‘fine’ which could be a designated fund for paying indigent costs or sent directly to the local health department; and

-                     Establish an Indigent Care Trust Fund-type funding mechanism for small, rural hospitals that do not qualify for disproportionate share hospital funding (as they do not meet the obstetrical care requirement) and create a new definition/category for these facilities.         

The Committee is to review all of these options and forward their ideas.  Once a consensus is reached, the final recommendations will be disclosed. 

          Tomorrow, the General Assembly will reconvene after the budget recess.  It also plans a special outing to Milledgeville to see the refurbishment of the old State Capitol.