Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward repeats the dubious argument from OHA Director Lynne Saxton that a large number of people are losing Medicaid because of the improved economy rather than the health authority’s own byzantine application process.
SB 1054 would allow new hospitals for veteran services to bypass the rigorous state regulatory process, but mental health advocates argue that without proper safeguards limiting it to veterans in crisis, the waiver could allow a for-profit hospital chain to disrupt the mental health system and poach the civilian patients with private health insurance, leaving those on Medicaid worse off.
