Corey has issued a call to arms to his Tea Party base, or who he perceives to be his Tea Party base. Others have called it a call for anarchy.
Unfortunately, the Whereas remarks are mostly speculation. The law does not take effect until Jan 1, 2014. The rush to urgency is simply not there, regardless of how much Corey tries to make this a case of imminent impending doom.
We will post the actual meat of the resolution, items 1-4, individually in the next post. Even the most casual observer will note that Corey’s ‘Opt Out Resolution ‘ opts out of nothing and will only cost the county money it doesn’t have.
The other supervisors are wise to his tricks now. They realize that he is salivating to be elected Lt. governor in 2013 or elected to some other higher office at either state or national level. They also realize that he wants to climb up this ladder of success on their backs, not on what is good for the county. They know that pulling the Department of Social Services to do investigative work is bad business. This agency has recently regrouped and reorganized after the tragic death of Lexie Glover. They have a new director. To pull people off of their routine work load to go do investigative work is wrong and disruptive. When county people are pulled to work on other things, then the regular work load just doesn’t get done.
The power of 4 is going to be the power of a little bit more than 4, this time.
Below is a copy of the proposed “Opt Out” Resolution to be presented on May 4, 2010.
MOTION: May 4, 2010
Regular Meeting
SECOND: Res. No. 10-
RE: REALLOCATION OF COUNTY RESOURCES TO COMPLY WITH PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
ACTION: APPROVED
WHEREAS, Medicaid is an entitlement program authorized under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, financed by the state and federal governments and administered by the States. The Virginia Medicaid program is administered by the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS); and
WHEREAS, the provision of eligibility workers to enroll beneficiaries and administer benefits has been imposed on Prince William County government with insufficient overhead funding from the Commonwealth of Virginia to cover all costs of administration; Prince William County citizens fund 53% of the administrative costs of administration through their local taxes; and
WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia currently covers eligible children, parents or caretakers of children, pregnant women, elderly persons, and persons who are blind or disabled, and the Virginia Medicaid population for Fiscal Year 2008 was 487,929 children, 142,180 parents or caretakers of children and pregnant women, 81,541 elderly persons, 182,636 persons who are blind or who have disabilities; and
WHEREAS, due to the provisions of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama on March 22, 2010, Virginia will add an estimated 400,000 residents to its Medicaid rolls, and by 2022, will spend an additional $1.1 billion, according to a projection from Virginia’s DMAS cited publically by Governor Robert F. McDonnell.
WHEREAS, private practice providers, general hospitals, children’s hospitals, and other health care providers have expressed grave concern that an open ended surge in Medicaid beneficiaries, and an anticipated decrease in reimbursement rates by States, will force providers out of business or force them to turn away currently served Medicaid populations; and
WHEREAS, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors strongly believes that there should be affordable access to high quality health care in Prince William County, and is gravely concerned that the changes to Medicaid will reduce the amount of affordable care available and reduce the Medicaid population’s access to health care as well; and
WHEREAS, Prince William County funds the administration of Medicaid benefits through their general fund, and the general fund is the primary source of funding for education, police protection, transportation, and all other critical county functions as identified in the strategic plan; and
WHEREAS, Prince William County currently provides local taxpayer funding totaling $6,526,214 within the Department of Social Services in FY 2010 administering benefits including Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Food Stamps, Medicaid, Refugee Resettlement, Auxiliary Grants for the elderly and disabled, general relief, and financial assistance to eligible families for the purchase of child care services; and
WHEREAS, according to testimony provided to the Board of County Supervisors on March 23, 2010 there is already a shortage of benefits administration staff and therefore insufficient capacity to handle the increase in the Medicaid eligible population created by the federal PPAC; and
WHEREAS, the PPAC constitutes an indirect unfunded mandate which completely ignores the cost of administration to local jurisdictions, forcing them to reallocate their scarce human services resources to less critical populations;
WHEREAS, Prince William County will honor state and federal law but is concerned that the PPAC will place a significant new financial burden on localities in the near future;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Prince William Board of County Supervisors requests that the Department of Social Services, assisted by County staff:
1. Estimate the additional population eligible for Medicaid in Prince William County as of January 1, 2014 according to the provisions of the PPAC and the regulations which will probably be promulgated by the federal government to implement the PPAC; and
2. Estimate the additional financial burden to the County taxpayers for additional administration of benefits for the newly expanded, less-sensitive population; and
3. Work with private health care providers to estimate the magnitude of the reduction of available health care options for the Medicaid population in Prince William County; and
4. Advise the Commonwealth and the federal government that unless additional resources are found at the federal and state levels of government to fund the administration of the expansion of Medicaid, that Prince William County will be forced to raise taxes on County residents or slash strategic services in order to fund eligibility workers to administer the massive expansion in the eligible population which will become effective on January 1, 2014 enrollment of newly covered beneficiaries.
AND, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Prince William BOCS directs the County Executive to:
- Estimate the increased cost burden the PPAC will have on the County’s provision of health insurance to its employees; and
- Provide comment to the Federal government as regulations and procedures are written which implement the Health Reform legislation in order to ensure that the impacts on local governments both from the significant expansion of Medicaid and from the implementation of other sections of the legislation are fully articulated.
Votes:
Ayes:
Nays:
Absent from Vote:
Absent from Meeting:
For Information:
None
CERTIFIED COPY___________________________________________________________
Clerk to the Board
Original Proclamation made by Corey over the weekend of April 10, 2010
