[Nfb-new-hampshire] IMPORTANT - CHECK OUT: Fwd: GSIL Advocacy Alert - Attend Medicaid Managed Care Forums This Week!

Tue Sep 13 14:58:00 UTC 2011

I received this from Jeff Dickinson yesterday, and I thought it was
important to check out.  Sadly I won't be back home in time from the
Colorado Center for the Blind (NFB training center) for any of these.

Also check out the other portions of the email - there's some
interesting info here.

Take care

Andrew

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jeff Dickinson <jdickinson at gsil.org>
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:41:58 -0700
Subject: GSIL Advocacy Alert - Attend Medicaid Managed Care Forums This Week!
To: Jeff Dickinson <jdickinson at gsil.org>

[cid:image001.png at 01CC2D0C.5945DCF0]

Granite State Independent Living
Advocacy Alert
Attend Medicaid Managed Care Forums This Week!

September 12, 2011

In This Issue

·   Medicaid Managed Care Forums This Week

·   Veto of Voter ID Bill Sustained

·   Deficit Reduction Supercommittee Kicks Off

Granite State Independent Living
Advocacy Program

21 Chenell Drive
 Concord, NH 03301

Office: (603) 228-9680 or (800) 826-3700

V/TTY: (888) 396-3459

Visit our website at: www.gsil.org<http://www.gsil.org>

E-mail: advocacy at gsil.org<mailto:advocacy at gsil.org>

Medicaid Managed Care Forums to Begin This Week!

As you may know, regional forums relating to Medicaid Managed Care are
beginning next week.  The schedule of the regional forums is as
follows:

· September 13th in Keene at the Keene Public Library - 2 – 4 PM

· September 14th in Nashua at Nashua Community College - 6 – 8 PM

· September 22nd in Somersworth at Avis Goodwin - 10 AM – 12 PM

· September 23rd at the Manchester Health Department – 10 AM – 12 PM

· The North Country - date and time TBA soon

According to the Department of Health and Human Service’s website,
forums will be “facilitated, interactive events that will allow for
participants to provide input about their expectations, concerns and
needs using a mixture of small-group and large-group discussions.”

The Department is also accepting comments in writing to:

DHHS

Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas

129 Pleasant St

Concord, NH 03301.

And, for those who are unable to attend the forums, the Department
will also be seeking input through an online survey on its website,
www.dhhs.nh.gov<http://www.dhhs.nh.gov>.  The survey will be online on
September 15.

Legislation was recently passed in the New Hampshire legislature that
requires New Hampshire to move aggressively towards a “managed care
model” for its Medicaid program.  In discussing this with many people,
it is clear we have different definitions of what managed care might
mean.

Managed care plans are health insurance plans that contract with
health care providers and medical facilities to provide care for
members at reduced costs.   These providers make up the plan's
network.   How much of care the plan will pay for depends on the
network's rules.  Think of Health Maintenance Organizations or HMOs in
the private insurance market.

Managed care effectively forms a "go-between", brokerage or 3rd party
arrangement by existing as the gatekeeper between payers (DHHS) and
providers (physicians, hospitals and health centers) and patients
(Medicaid members).

DHHS will be issuing a Request for Proposals to managed care companies
this fall for implementation of Medicaid Managed Care by July 1, 2012.
 Medicaid Managed Care will profoundly change how Medicaid works in
NH.  It holds potential benefits such as reduced costs and potentially
an embrace of much less expensive Home and Community Based Services.
It also holds potential risks such as reductions in services allowed
and caps on how much can be spent on an individual’s services.  How
Medicaid Managed Care is structured in NH will largely be determined
by the requirements DHHS includes in the RFP, and that will largely be
determined by input that DHHS receives from Medicaid members (like
you) throughout the state.

For more information on Medicaid Managed Care and what the issues to
consider with it are, go to this link on the GSIL web page:

http://www.gsil.org/info.php?id=216

We sincerely hope you will be able to attend one of these very
important events!!

Veto on Voter Photo ID Bill SUSTAINED!

We here at GSIL are delighted to inform you that Governor Lynch’s veto
of SB129, the Voter Photo ID Bill<http://www.americavotes.org/SB129>
was SUSTAINED by a vote of 17 – 7 last week! (7 to override, 17 to
sustain).

9 votes were needed to sustain the Governor’s veto and 17 were counted
in favor.  This is amazing to have flipped 8 senators from the last
vote on the bill, and we want to thank everyone for their tireless
work on making this happen.

Our message is one of collective thanks to the NH Senate for doing the
right thing. For further reading:

The America Votes statement is here<http://www.americavotes.org/node/1650>.

Union Leader story is
here<http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110907/NEWS06/110909923>.

Other coverage includes NH Public
Radio<http://www.nhpr.org/senate-backs-lynch-veto-voter-id>, AP story
in the Houston Chronicle<http://www.chron.com/news/article/NH-Senate-kills-photo-ID-bill-2159376.php>,
and NH Watchdog<http://newhampshire.watchdog.org/9185/nh-senate-overrides-four-vetoes-sustains-vetoes-of-voter-id-and-rggi-repeal/>.

For anyone who wants to listen to the deliberations, click
here<http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/live/senate.html>, click
September 7, 2011
Afternoon<http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/senateaudio/sessions/2011/2011-09-07pm.asx>
and go to minute:  01:01:35.

Thank you all again for your hard work and outreach in making sure
that this bill was finally put to rest.

Deficit Reduction “Supercommittee” Open for Business
>From the Medicare Rights Center (9/8/11):

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the
“Supercommittee,” held its first meeting last week, with each member
of the committee giving opening remarks that focused mainly on the
need for both sides of the aisle to work together.

At the public meeting, members discussed general goals and procedures
for moving forward, with the committee’s co-chairs, Representative Jeb
Hensarling and Senator Patty Murray, promising transparency—including
the passage of rules that state all meetings be held publicly unless
the committee votes to meet in private.

The Supercommittee’s goal is to reach a compromise that will reduce
the deficit by $1.2 trillion dollars and that Congress will approve
through a fast-tracked process. If the committee and Congress do not
approve a package that includes at least $1.2 trillion in savings,
automatic spending cuts will take effect. Medicaid and Social Security
are not subject to automatic cuts, and automatic cuts to Medicare are
limited to a 2 percent reduction in payments to providers and private
plans.

However, as discussed at today’s meeting, the committee may recommend
changes to all programs—including Medicaid, Social Security and
Medicare—as well as increases in revenue and changes to the tax code.
The next meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is
due to take place on Tuesday, September 13.

For further information on some proposals the supercommittee may
consider, Read the Medicare Rights Center’s fact sheet “Painting a
Grim Picture.”<http://e.medicarerights-email.org/l.jsp?d=635.74148.1282.2aqNPEi8.A>

To learn more about the legislation that formed the supercommittee and
required certain reductions to the federal budget, see “The Debt Deal
and Medicare.”<http://e.medicarerights-email.org/l.jsp?d=635.74149.1282.2aqNPEi8.A>