This amendment restores $39.4 million from the general fund and $40.0 million from federal matching Medicaid funds in the Department of Medical Assistance Services for the Medicaid program. The introduced budget assumed three quarters of savings from the existing Medicaid program that would occur if the program was transformed to cover to newly eligible individuals with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This amendment assumes that only two quarters of savings from the existing Medicaid program will accrue to the state due to Medicaid transformation beginning on January 1, 2019 instead of October 1, 2018. These savings would accrue since the federal matching rate is higher for individuals in the newly eligible population than in the current Medicaid program (93.5% in fiscal year 2019 compared to 50% for the current Medicaid population). The agency estimates that a number of individuals in the existing Medicaid program will be moved into the newly covered population, along with individuals who obtain health care at the state's teaching hospitals because they are indigent. Companion amendments
in Item 312 and Item 390 restore savings from enhanced Medicaid coverage for individuals served by Community Services Boards and inmate hospitalization payments by the Department of Corrections.