Bill > SB96

This bill, titled the "Arkansas Health Reform Act of 2015," establishes an Arkansas Health Reform Legislative Task Force composed of sixteen members of the General Assembly, with the Surgeon General serving as a nonvoting member, to study and recommend alternative healthcare coverage models and legislative frameworks to ensure continued healthcare services for vulnerable populations currently covered by the Health Care Independence Program (HCIP), also known as the "Private Option," upon its termination, and to explore options for modernizing Medicaid programs for the indigent, aged, and disabled. The task force is charged with identifying necessary resources and funding for a transition from the HCIP without requiring additional state general revenue, analyzing the populations served by HCIP, and recommending measures to preserve access to quality healthcare while protecting Arkansas workers and employers from federal mandates, maximizing state flexibility in managing Medicaid, strengthening the employer-sponsored insurance market, encouraging employment for healthcare service recipients, promoting healthier behaviors, ensuring provider availability, and improving access in rural areas, with a report due by December 31, 2015, and a final report by December 30, 2016, before the task force expires on December 31, 2016. Additionally, the bill authorizes the Department of Human Services to seek federal waivers to transform the Arkansas Medicaid Program into one with greater state flexibility for innovative and cost-effective solutions, including block grants or capitated payment models, aiming to improve outcomes, utilize cost-effective settings, enhance injury prevention, optimize telemedicine, increase transparency, and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, with a specific provision that Medicaid eligibility for the current expansion population under the HCIP cannot extend past December 31, 2016, without express legislative approval, and the department must amend the Medicaid State Plan to eliminate certain eligibility categories by December 31, 2016, prior to the termination of federal waivers. The bill also suspends certain changes to the HCIP, including the transition of Medicaid-eligible populations to the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace and the application of additional cost-sharing requirements for beneficiaries below 100% of the federal poverty level, until the earliest of the HCIP's termination or December 31, 2016, with the overall goal of focusing on future improvements and limiting the state's exposure to additional costs, and it declares an emergency to ensure the immediate necessity of these reforms for the preservation of public peace, health, and safety.