[NFBMO] Attention! End of Session Request

[Roger Crome]

Hello friends,

It has been an interesting and eventful legislative session.  The Federation has seen some positive impact resulting from our efforts this year.  I will send out a wrap up email that outlines some of these positive impacts as well as some of the challenges we have faced this year.  In this email, however, I need to reach out to you with a final request from the GA committee.

The Federal Reimbursement Allowance assesses hospitals in the state a fee for the privilege of doing business in the state.  The fee is a General Revenue equivalent, and when used to make valid Medicaid payments, it earns Medicaid matching funds.  These matching funds are crucial to providing medical services for Medicaid recipients as well as providing a significant boost to the stability of our state budget.  Unfortunately, there have been some hold ups within the budget process with regard to this specific leveraging tool.  The FRA has been included in several bills and is being used as a political tool to achieve priorities that are not necessarily connected to the purpose and necessity of this bill.

What needs to occur is that the legislature should pass a clean copy of the Federal Reimbursement Allowance.  This means that they address the specific point but do not connect political aspirations to it.  It should stand alone, as on its own merit, it is a necessary part of our budget.

The state legislature ends their session tomorrow, May 14th, and if they do not pass the FRA by that time, it will have to wait until special session in September.  With July 1st being the beginning of the state fiscal year, this leaves two months in which Medicaid and other state budgetary items could see significant withholds.

The Governmental Affairs Committee would like to ask you to please reach out to your state legislators tomorrow morning and tell them to pass a clean copy of the FRA.  If you do not have your state legislator's phone numbers, dial the state switchboard at (573)751-2000.  The operators should be able to point you in the right direction.

Thanks for all you do.  Feel free to reach out to me by email at r_crome1 at msn.com<mailto:r_crome1 at msn.com> or by phone at (573)701-8409 with any questions.

Thank you in advance.

Roger Crome
GA Committee Chair