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PW chairman backs off Medicaid stance
Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart (R) backed off his hard-line stance on Medicaid Tuesday.
Stewart had previously said the county wouldn't cooperate with the federal expansion of Medicaid but he softened his tone after backlash from colleagues and the county attorney.
During Tuesday's board meeting, Stewart introduced a draft of his resolution, which simply calls for the county staff to collect information about healthcare reform's impact and express concerns to state and federal officials.
Previously, Stewart had said his resolution would “direct our county staff to refuse to administer the new Medicaid benefits.”
That raised alarms for officials at Families USA, a nonprofit and nonpartisan advocacy group that works for affordable health insurance.
“”That sounds like a statement that is motivated more by politics than by how best to serve the citizens of Prince William County,” said Kathleen Stoll, the organization's director of healthcare policy.
County Executive Melissa Peacor explained last week that Medicaid is a federal program but it is the localities' responsibility to administer it.
That means local governments must pay for the staffers who determine eligibility and handle other paperwork.
The healthcare reform law, which doesn't kick in until 2014 in any case, could mean that more residents are entitled to Medicaid. That may in turn mean that more staffers are needed to handle the influx.
Stewart's concern, which has been echoed by other supervisors, is that the county will have to lay off other employees in order to hire more Medicaid administrators.
In order to avoid that, Stewart had said the county won't hire new Medicaid workers or administer Medicaid benefits for the healthcare reform law.
“It’s up to each and every one of us, when we see wrong, to stand up and say no not only 'no' but 'hell no, we’re not going to do it; we’re not going to go there.'” he told a Tea Party rally on April 10 in Stafford.
After being questioned by colleagues and reporters, he clarified last week that the county wouldn't administer benefits “until required to do so by federal or state courts.”
Stewart repeated that stance on April 15 as he spoke to about 100 Tea Party supporters outside the McCoart Building at the County Complex.
He said that under his plan, no one who currently receives Medicaid would be affected. However, he acknowledged that the residents who became entitled to Medicaid under the new law would not be able to get their benefits.
“I don't think the county should have to administer a federal program,” he told the April 15 Tea Party rally. “It's a federal program -- let the feds administer it.”
But after talking to the county attorney and fellow supervisors, Stewart backed down.
His resolution now orders the county staff to estimate the number of new Medicaid recipients and the financial impact to the county.
It also orders staff to “advise the commonwealth and the federal government that unless additional resources are found at the federal and state levels... that Prince William County will be forced to raise taxes on county residents or slash strategic services in order to fund eligibility workers to administer the massive expansion in the eligible population.”
Coles Supervisor Marty Nohe (R), who had expressed some discomfort with Stewart's original statements, said Tuesday that the revised proposal is more palatable.
“We would fully comply with whatever the standards are,” he said. “We just want to have input into what the standards are.”
The resolution must still be passed by the full board. A vote is expected on May 4.
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