The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission released its June 2020 Report to Congress, which included recommendations on dually eligible beneficiaries, the Medicare Savings Programs and coordination between Medicaid and Tricare.
Five takeaways:
1. Two of MACPAC's recommendations aim to increase the availability of integrated products and the opportunity to enroll in them. In the first, MACPAC called on CMS to issue a subregulatory guidance that would allow beneficiaries who are eligible for dual Medicare-Medicaid plans to enroll on a monthly basis.
2. The second recommendation in this category is to increase federal funding to help states develop expertise in Medicare and try out new care models.
3. MACPAC's third recommendation concerns determining eligibility for the Medicare Savings Programs. MACPAC said states should use definitions of income, household size and assets when determining eligibility for the Part D Low-Income Subsidy program.
4. MACPAC also made two recommendations targeted at improving coordination between Medicaid and Tricare, which provides health insurance to uniformed service members, retirees and their families. First, MACPAC recommends that CMS work with the Department of Defense to create a mechanism for routinely sharing eligibility and coverage data between the Defense Health Agency and state Medicaid entities.
5. In the same vein, MACPAC recommended that Congress should direct the Department of Defense to require the health insurers it works with to implement the same third-party liability policies as other health insurers. MACPAC intends this to protect Medicaid from improper claim payments.
Read the full report here.