Probate & Trust Law Section Conference Manual ... - Minnesota CLE

has decided to increase reimbursement rates to providers, while still
holding out hope for approval of the pending waiver requests.
F. Two waiver requests to reform medical assistance have been submitted to
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 3 They will be
discussed in more detail below. Pending approval of the waiver requests,
the medical assistance programs remain stuck in a limbo of sorts, relatively
the same but with several very big changes that occurred in 2012. These
materials will discuss the most notable medical assistance developments
since last year’s Probate and Trust Law Conference.
G. References in these materials to the HCPM are references to the Health Care
Programs Manual published by the Minnesota Department of Human Services
(DHS). The HCPM provides guidelines to county financial workers to assist them
in determining eligibility for medical assistance and other Minnesota health care
programs. The HCPM is available at:
http://hcopub.dhs.state.mn.us/
II.
MEDICAL ASSISTANCE DEMOGRAPHICS
A. Large numbers of Minnesotans are affected by the medical assistance program
(commonly called “MA” or “Medicaid”). In 2012, 732,821 Minnesotans, on
average per month, received one form of MA benefits or another. 4 This number is
projected to increase to 742,708, on average per month, in 2013. 5 Of the number of
eligibles in September 2012, 470,290 Minnesotans received benefits available to
families and children, 122,759 received benefits available for persons with
disabilities, 84,354 received benefits available to adults with no children, and only
3 There are three waiver requests awaiting approval by CMS. They are the Long Term Care
Realignment Section 1115 Waiver Request, which was original submitted February 13, 2012,
and was revised and re-submitted to CMS on November 21, 2012, and the Reform 2020;
Pathways to Independence Waiver Request, which was originally submitted to CMS on August
24, 2012, and subsequently revised and re-submitted on November 21, 2012. A third waiver
request, Minnesota’s Demonstration to Integrate Care for Dual Eligibles (Medicare and
Medicaid) was submitted to CMS on April 26, 2012. This waiver request is still pending. It
will not be discussed in these materials.
4 “Eligibles and Payments,” Family Self-Sufficiency and Health Care Program Statistics, January 2013, p. 30,
Reports and Forecasts Division, Minnesota Department of Human Services, available at:
http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&Re
ndition=Primary&allowInterrupt=1&noSaveAs=1&dDocName=dhs_id_016338.
5 Id.
3