Independent Perspective #1596

Guests:  Todd Vaarwerk

Topic:  Medicaid Redesign Team II

Duration:  05:45

Published:  February 18, 2020

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guest today is Todd Vaarwerk, Chief Policy Officer with WNYIL, and your host is yours truly Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program, Todd.

Guest:  Always good to be here.

Host:  And you are a resident expert on all things governmental and so there is something that people might have the opportunity to have their voices heard on in a very limited window of time. First, to set the ground, could you tell us about the state budget shortfall?

Guest:  Okay, so everything we're going to be talking about probably for the next little while from a public policy standpoint is the New York State budget. And the New York State budget, not surprisingly, is in deficit. While you can read various places that will question the number between $3 billion and upwards of $19 billion. The number, they're actually tossing around to kind of deal with closing is a deficit of around $6 billion dollars. So, in order to do that, the Governor, recognizing that a good chunk of that deficit is growth in Medicaid expenses, did something that, if you looked at it on the surface would be a really, really good thing. He reconstituted something called the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT). Now the MRT is the system that created managed care for folks on Medicaid, managed Long Term Care Programs, Health Homes programs and things that were meant to bring down and regulate Medicaid costs. So, he reestablished the MRT, MRT2 is what they call it now. And you’d think that that would be a good thing, especially since not waiting for the budget to be passed, he charged the MRT2 to begin meeting immediately to talk about things that could be cut in the present budget to help cover the shortfall. Now, the problem with this is that we at WNYIL for all of our viewers of the program, believe that people with disabilities should be involved on all levels of discussion, and of the 16 members I think of MRT2, we have one person with a disability participating. In addition, we definitely have something that's running on a really short time period, the MRT was announced well, at time that the show is aired we're looking at the end of January, 2020, and it's due to close its work, including all recommendations by the public by the end of February 2020. So we're looking at a really, really, really short window.

Host:  I believe there might be an opportunity for a public meeting at a relatively close city to Western New York?

Guest:  Yes, you need to keep very close watch on WNYIL’s Facebook page, because that's where the stuff that happens immediately gets posted so that you can see it. But we would expect that somewhere really close to this broadcast, there will be a meeting in Rochester, New York to talk about the work of MRT2.

Host:  And I guess the address is to be announced, which is why you should keep your watch on the Facebook page

Guest:  This is especially important, by the way, any of our listeners out there that receive home care of any type, whether its consumer directed, whether it's traditional care, whether you get visiting nurses. This is a very important thing for you in terms of making sure your voice gets heard in the recommendation about the services that are important to you.

Host:  And I believe there's going to be an opportunity for people to respond online up until the 21st of February?

Guest:  I believe it is mrtupdates@doh.state.ny.us and that's the standard Department Health Forum, but if you get that lost just go to the WNYIL Facebook page and scroll down a little bit, we'll pin this so that it rises to the top and we'll make it easier for you.

Host:  Alright, in the closing seconds I'm sure people have questions, how can they reach you?

Guest:  You can always call me 716-836-0822, extension 101

Host:  Thanks so much for being with us Todd on this important subject.

Guest:  Always a pleasure.

Host:  You’ve been listening to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guest today was Todd Vaarwerk, Chief Policy Officer with WNYIL and your host was yours truly, Ernie Churchwell.