New Hampshire House and Senate Approve Medicaid Expansion Bill

April 2018 ~

The New Hampshire House Health and Human Services Committee and Senate have passed legislation to reauthorize the state’s Medicaid expansion program for an additional five years, as well as ads work requirements, and will also transition beneficiaries from the individual insurance exchange into a managed care model.

The bill, SB 313, includes new work or community-service requirements for certain participants and conversion of the program to an HMO-style managed-care approach, instead of fee-for-service (FFS).

The federal government initially paid the entire cost of the expansion, with the state paying pay 5% of the cost over the past two years. This cost will rise to 10% by 2020 and funding for the state share would also come in part from the state’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Fund, which is funded by Liquor Commission sales.

SB 313 passed the Senate in a 17-7 vote on March 9 and came to the House with a 21-0 “ought-to-pass” recommendation from the House Health and Human Services Committee.

Before passing the bill, the House adopted amendments that would allow self-employment to fulfill the work requirement and allow seasonal workers to use an average of hours worked over a six-month period to comply. Additionally, the House also voted to extend an April 30 deadline for federal approval of the work requirement by two months.

The state is still awaiting approval from the federal government for its work requirement proposal. The bill is now on its way to the House Finance Committee for review and approval.

Source(s): The New Hampshire Union Leader; NH General Court – Bill Status System; Concord Monitor; NHPR; SB 313-FN – as amended by the House; WMUR;