SC Disputes Claim It’s Ineligible for Medicaid Money in Stimulus

Out of the billions of dollars in the federal stimulus plan that’s for states’ Medicaid programs, South Carolina is supposed to get about $173 million. But Washington says the state is ineligible for the money because of changes it has made recently to eligibility requirements for Medicaid.

“We don’t believe we’re ineligible,“ says Jeff Stensland, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. “There’s a disagreement we have with our counterparts in Washington, who say we might be ineligible because of some eligibility changes that we made as a result of state budgets cuts earlier this year. We have not restored those changes we made, but we do intend to do so.“

He says the eligibility changes dealt with two programs. One, called transitional Medicaid, allowed recipients to stay on Medicaid for up to two years after they’d gotten a higher-paying job that would have made them ineligible for the program. The other program disregarded income limits for aged, blind and disabled residents.

But the state also cut or reduced some specific programs, including home-delivered meals, hospice care, breast and cervical cancer screening, dental care and building wheelchair ramps.

Stensland says the state has sent a letter of intent to Washington saying the state will change back its eligibility requirements and restore the cuts. So while some states will start receiving the money Wednesday, South Carolina’s money will at least be delayed.

“Whether or not it’s Thursday or next week or next month, we’ll be able to draw down the same amount of money, because everything is retroactive. So there is a little bit of a timing issue, but the bottom line is South Carolina will still get the same amount of money it otherwise would have,“ he says.

About 850,000 South Carolinians are on Medicaid. If the state does not get the money from the stimulus plan, Stensland says that number would fall by about 10,000.