Senate Bill No. 585

(By Senator Snyder)

____________

[Introduced February 17, 2003; referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance .]

____________




A BILL to amend article two, chapter nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section twelve, relating to prohibiting optional medicaid benefits over those required by the federal government unless specifically approved by the Legislature.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section twelve, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN RESOURCES, AND OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF HUMAN SERVICES; POWERS, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES GENERALLY.
§9-2-12. Limitation on use of funds for optional benefits above federal requirements; legislative approval.

(a) The department of health and human resources may not use funds from the medicaid program accounts for optional benefits that exceed benefits required by the federal government, unless those optional benefits are first approved by the Legislature.
(b) The secretary shall report annually to the joint committee on government and finance indicating on how the department has accomplished benefit reductions of medicaid services that have previously been provided, including those that exceeded federal requirements. The report may also contain proposals for medicaid program optional benefits that exceed federal requirements, together with an explanation of the necessity of the optional benefits and why they should be approved by the Legislature. The Legislature intends that the state's medicaid program may not provide coverage for benefits that exceed federal requirements, unless first approved by the Legislature as expressly provided in this section.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit The Department of Health and Human Resources from providing optional medicaid benefits over those required by the federal government, unless specifically approved by the Legislature.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.