Health care
Health plan consolidation talks
State administration of cials are talking with pub- lic employer groups, including unions, on the pro- posed state health trust and possible consolidation of health plans. There are about 100,000 people covered in about 100 different health plans partly or wholly funded by the state. “Stakeholder”consultations are expected to be wrapped up in six weeks, with reports and recommendations to the Legislature by January. The state’s health care tab across all programs is about $1.4 billion a year and without system changes is expected to rise at 5 percent yearly.
***
The state Department of Health and Social Services is delaying Medicaid payments to larger health care providers due to the $20 million shortfall in the state’s FY 2918 Medicaid budget that the Legislature opted not to fund before it adjourned in May. The department is juggling funds to keep payments owing to smaller health providers who do not have pockets deep enough to weather the period of no payment. The new scal year begins July 1 with a new budget going into effect. However, the shortfall must still be paid, which will only exacerbate another, larger shortfall in FY 2019.