Bill Text: HI SCR160 | 2023 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting The Department Of Human Services To File A Request With The Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services To Amend The State's Existing Section 1115 Demonstration Program To Implement A Housing And Health Opportunities Demonstration Program To Enable Direct Housing Costs For Medicaid Recipients To Be Covered By The Federal Financial Participation For Medicaid.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-15 - Referred to HHS. [SCR160 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2023-SCR160-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	160
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting the department of human services to File a request with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to amend the State's existing section 1115 demonstration program to implement A Housing and Health Opportunities demonstration program To enable direct housing costs for Medicaid recipients to be covered by the federal financial participation for Medicaid.

 

 

     WHEREAS, lack of stable housing can impede the ability to enroll in health care coverage and access needed health care, leading to the creation of physical, social, or emotional distress that fuels the cycle of health inequity; and

 

     WHEREAS, Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that provides health coverage or nursing home coverage to certain categories of individuals, including children, pregnant women, parents of eligible children, low income adults, former foster care children, aged, blind, and disabled individuals; and

 

     WHEREAS, although federal financial participation for Medicaid is generally not available to state Medicaid programs for room and board, federal funds are generally available from certain federal sources for housing-related support and services that promote health and community integration, including home accessibility modifications, one-time community transition costs, and housing and tenancy support, including pre-tenancy services and tenancy sustaining services; and

 

     WHEREAS, section 1115 of the federal Social Security Act (Act) allows the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive compliance with certain Medicaid requirements under the Act; approve experimental, pilot, or demonstration projects that are found by the Secretary to be likely to assist in promoting the objectives of the Medicaid program; and provide federal financial participation for demonstration costs that would not otherwise be considered as federally matchable expenditures; and

 

     WHEREAS, states have significant flexibility in how they define target populations for section 1115 demonstration services and activities, such as by age, risk factors for services, geographic areas, and populations meeting certain characteristics; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has been advancing housing support services through recent 1115 demonstration approvals that will test innovative interventions that could help to stabilize the housing situations of eligible Medicaid enrollees, improve their use of needed health care, and increase the likelihood they will keep receiving and benefitting from services to which they are entitled; and

 

     WHEREAS, in October 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved a request filed by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), Arizona's Medicaid agency, to amend Arizona's section 1115 research and demonstration waiver to implement AHCCCS' Housing and Health Opportunities demonstration program that seeks to enhance and expand housing services and interventions for AHCCCS members who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless; and

 

     WHEREAS, Arizona's Housing and Health Opportunities demonstration program is a groundbreaking effort designed to complement Arizona's existing housing program funded with general fund dollars that provides rent subsidies to nearly three thousand individuals experiencing homelessness each year; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii also has programs that provide rent subsidies to qualified individuals, including the Rent Supplement Program administered by the Hawaii Public Housing Authority; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Human Services is requested to:

 

     (1)  Develop a Housing and Health Opportunities demonstration program for the State that is similar to Arizona's Housing and Health Opportunities demonstration program; and

 

     (2)  File a request with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to amend the State's existing section 1115 demonstration program to implement the newly created Housing and Health Opportunities demonstration program to enable direct housing costs for Medicaid recipients to be covered by the federal financial participation for Medicaid; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Human Services.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Medicaid; Section 1115 Medicaid Demonstration Waiver; Direct Housing Costs; Arizona Housing and Health Opportunities (H2O) Demonstration Waiver