Alaska State Legislature
News from the House Majority

Jerry Ritter, House Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
Phone: (907) 465-3804
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540

House Votes Help for the Disabled

Some Medicaid Payments would Continue after Return to Work

For Immediate Release April 7, 1998 Contact: Rep. Con Bunde at (907) 465-4843.

Juneau -- The Alaska House Tuesday unanimously passed a House Finance Committee Substitute for House Bill 459, sponsored by the House Health, Education, and Social Services (HESS) Committee. The measure would allow certain injured workers to continue receiving Medicaid payments after they return to the work force. It also moves midwife services further down the list of optional medical services whose funding can be eliminated during shortages of Medicaid funds.

"When you're hurt on the job, you're going to need a lot of money to pay your medical bills, especially if your medical condition worsens while you're unemployed," said Representative Con Bunde (R-Anchorage), Chair of the House HESS Committee. "But many people who are hurt can't perform at the same level as before, so they have to take lower-paying jobs which often provide lower benefits, sometimes no benefits at all," Bunde said.

Federal law allows Medicaid payments to continue if a worker can demonstrate that his or her earnings in the new job are insufficient to provide a reasonable equivalent of Medicaid and that termination of Medicaid would seriously inhibit the worker's ability to stay on the job.

"This bill permits the State of Alaska to exercise this option," Bunde said. "It allows the State to further determine a sliding scale of payments for workers who receive these benefits, depending on how much money they're earning when they get back to work," Bunde said.

Currently, midwife services are first on the list of optional medical services eliminated during shortages of Medicaid funds. Moving midwife services to a lower position on the list should increase competition in the field and save Medicaid dollars, the bill's sponsors say.

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Broadcasters note: Comments are available by calling the House Majority Actuality Line at (800) 478-6540.
= Con Bunde, 49 K