By: Jane Perkins
Executive Summary
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should reject the Kentucky governor’s “Alternative Benefit Plan (ABP) State Plan Amendment (SPA),” which took effect on July 1, according to the National Health Law Program, Kentucky Equal Justice Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center in a July 6 letter sent to Acting Director of CMS Timothy Hill. The groups are representing Kentuckians in a federal lawsuit challenging HHS’s approval of Kentucky’s Section 1115 waiver plan, which includes onerous restrictions on Medicaid services. On June 29, a federal court vacated and remanded the Kentucky waiver plan to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In their July 6 letter to CMS, the groups argue that the Kentucky governor’s application to cut vision, dental, and non-emergency medical transportation services is procedurally flawed, and therefore CMS must reject it and reverse the cuts to Medicaid services in Kentucky.
