PHOENIX — Some of the state’s long-term unemployed could eventually find themselves without health insurance.
The state House on Thursday gave final approval to legislation paving the way for a five-year lifetime limit on Medicaid benefits. HB 2367 also would require those who can work to have a job, be looking for one or be in a job-training program.
Federal Medicaid regulations currently do not allow such limits.
But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which funds the majority of Medicaid costs, allows states to seek waivers to find more cost-effective ways of providing care. This legislation requires state officials to seek those waivers every year from now on.
The measure was written by House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden.
Tobin opposed Gov. Jan Brewer’s move to take advantage of the federal Affordable Care Act, which allows states to expand eligibility for their Medicaid programs to those up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — $26,951 for a family of three.
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Tobin, who is running for Congress, said his legislation would help control future costs.
He said while the federal government is picking up virtually all the costs of the expansion from current limits of the federal poverty level, that won’t last forever. And that, he said, means the state needs to start looking now for ways to trim the price tag.
Tobin’s legislation, which now goes to the governor, has some exceptions to the five-year lifetime limit, including if the person is pregnant or the sole caregiver for a family member younger than 5.
He also agreed to waive the five-year limit if someone remains employed full-time but in a low-wage job where the earnings still qualify them for Medicaid benefits.
Separate from the lifetime limit, there is the requirement for Medicaid recipients to be working, seeking employment or participating in a job-training program, with exceptions for a sole caregiver for a child no older than 4, or if the recipient is getting long-term disability benefits.
Tobin’s legislation also requires state Medicaid officials to try to get federal permission to impose “meaningful copayments” to deter the use of hospital emergency rooms for non-emergency medical conditions and the use of ambulance services where it is not medically necessary.
Rep. Eric Meyer, D-Paradise Valley, said he is concerned about the effects on some people if the state somehow gets the waiver requests approved.
“This freezes out the poorest of the poor from health care coverage,” he said. “Those in our state who are unfortunate enough to not be able to find work for whatever reason will now also lose their health care coverage and have nowhere to turn other than an emergency department, or not getting care at all.”
