Richardville: Michigan Senate GOP Ready For Medicaid Vote

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Friday, August 23, 2013 Richardville: Michigan Senate GOP Ready For Medicaid Vote LANSING - Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville on Thursday confirmed that a majority of the caucus desires to vote, whether that's yes or no, on the main Medicaid reform and expansion bill that has loomed over senators all summer. "I don't think we were ready last time," Richardville (R-Monroe) said in a phone interview, referring to the chamber's last official session day before summer recess. The bill, HB 4714 , was discussed alongside two other proposals (SB 422 is one and SB 459 and SB 460 the other) at a caucus retreat this week, but Richardville said he did not take a whip count for any of the plans. Instead, he said, he will be talking to senators individually between now and when session starts up again next Tuesday. Senate Republicans will then caucus on Tuesday, at which time he expects to have a better idea of support and opposition. Having a majority of the caucus in support of a vote is critical, as the caucus has taken substantial criticism for what has been referred to as "the rule of 13" in which 13 of the 26 Senate Republicans either support voting on a policy or support the policy itself. Though Richardville, in the interview, said "it's not a rule," others within the caucus have held close to the "rule," noting that they will be upset if it is not upheld when it comes to HB 4714. "It was kind of me saying I wasn't going to shove something through without a decent time to deliberate on it, unless everybody wanted me to, and they didn't," Richardville said of the waiting period on HB 4714. "It's not a rule and it's not the way we normally manage the place, and there are times we move things that a majority of Republicans don't agree with." Realistically, the caucus only needs to scrounge up seven members to vote yes, assuming all 12 Senate Democrats vote in support, and Lt. Governor Brian Calley can cast the tie-breaking "yes" vote to move the bill. Eight votes would make for a cleaner 20 that takes away the uncertainty involved in relying on the lieutenant governor to break the tie because an opponent could always abstain, leading to a 19-18 vote and depriving Calley of a role. Another potential reason for the uncertainty in vote counts is two-fold: First, there are three different Medicaid proposals. Richardville said he was uncertain of the level of support for the alternative proposals, but when the bills were reported from the Senate Government Operations Committee, he said he did not expect the alternatives would "peel away" votes from HB 4714. Voting on the alternative plans depends on discussions with the sponsors of the legislation - Sen. Bruce Caswell (R-Hillsdale) and Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton Township), respectively - Richardville said. But if there is support within the caucus to vote on all three plans, he said, "I'll do it." The second reason for uncertain vote counts is changes to the legislation. During and after the committee, each of the proposals heard certain criticisms. One of the chief concerns from most on-the-fence senators regarding HB 4714 is a billing threshold for uninsured patients. In the untouched draft that left the Senate committee, HB 4714 mandates facilities participating in the Medicaid program charge those patients no more than 115 percent of the Medicare rate for care provided to uninsured persons with income levels of 500 percent of the federal poverty line or below. Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw Township), a key backer of the legislation, said that is likely to be reduced from 500 percent to 133 percent, the same number the House had used when it passed the bill. Other negotiations with the House involve the 48-month limit for persons' enrolled in Medicaid, which would mandate that certain enrollees in the program either pay a higher rate to stay in the program or convert to coverage in the federal health care exchange. "There's some negotiation about the structure of that conversion, what the payment for the enrollee would be," Kahn said. Also being discussed is the "skin in the game concept," better known as personal responsibility measures, as well as some clarifying language in the S-7 draft 3 awaiting a vote on the Senate floor, Kahn said. Richardville said there is still a "pretty good chance to vote on something" on either Tuesday or Wednesday next week. This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com Author: Staff Writer Source: Gongwer News Service

Source: http://www.mitechnews.com/articles.asp?id=16010

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