Legal Clips, [July 2006]
A Bush Administration plan to prohibit federal reimbursement for transportation and administrative costs associated with special education services for Medicaid-eligible children could cost school districts more than $3.6 billion over the next five years. The Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 allowed school districts to receive payment from Medicaid for services provided to eligible children under the Individuals with Disabilities Act, a practice now threatened by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). "Federal reimbursement for administrative services are critically important for ensuring that schools are able to link children to eligible medical services, identify students who may need medical screening and evaluations, and work with the community to provide referral services for children and their families," says the National School Boards Association's (NSBA) Director of Advocacy Michael A. Resnick in a letter to HHS Secretary Michael O. Leavitt. "Likewise, transportation reimbursement has helped to accommodate students with special needs, such as outfitting buses with specific services and hiring bus aids for children with more severe disabilities." "If school districts lose this money, it affects not only services for these kids, but the overall budget of the school district,'' adds Chrisanne Gayl, NSBA's director of federal programs. Under the Bush administration's proposal, the Los Angeles Unified district would lose $9 million, the Pittsburgh school district would lose $2.12 million, and the Haverhill, Mass., school district, with an enrollment of 7,770, would lose $450,000, the equivalent of about nine teaching positions. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) plans to introduce legislation to require CMS to continue reimbursing schools districts.

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[Editor's Note: The NSBA letter and background sheet on Medicaid claiming are linked below. Ms. Gayl reports that the legislation, the "Protecting Children's Health in Schools Act of 2006," has been introduced and that similar language also has been included in the Senate Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. The attempt to cut Medicaid support for services to school children is not new. Background on earlier attempts and legal efforts to resist them is available starting at the NSBA School Law pages link.]
[NSBA letter and background sheet on Medicaid reimbursement]
[NSBA School Law pages on Medicaid reimbursement dispute]