Agenda - 04-05-2016 - 5-a - Orange County's Proposed 2016 Legislative Agenda

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Health & Human Services Goals & Guiding Principles same routes and in the same transport vehicle. All clients and programs share in the costs, resulting in per trip costs far below states with stand-alone networks. • A private Medicaid transportation broker has sought assign- ment of the non-emergency medical transport for Medicaid- eligible clients, thereby removing the Medicaid rider and Medicaid funding stream from the coordinated transporta- tion network. HH-11: Advocate for adequate state funding for services to vulnerable older adults and disabled adults needing protec- tive and public guardianship services. • Statewide implementation of the LME/MCO model required LMEs to transfer public guardianships under their oversight to the county DSS agency in keeping with federal Medicaid policy. To offset county costs of assuming these new wards, the state budget set aside roughly $4 million in federal block grants. • While these funds may be sufficient for the guardianships transferred initially, there was no guarantee that new wards would be supported. Adequate state funding for adult servic- es can allow participants to remain safely in their own homes and avoid more costly institutional placement. HH-12: Seek legislation to reverse changes made to the childcare subsidy program available to working families. • The 2014-15 state budget tightened eligibility standards for childcare subsidies and increased co-payments for program participants. Since eligibility changes for children currently enrolled do not become effective until the next annual eli- gibility review, the number of children affected is uncertain. • Around 85,000 children currently receive childcare subsidies, with 18,000 awaiting placement. • The program is financed primarily through federal, not county funds. Counties are responsible for local administration and eligibility determination. www.ncacc.org I (919) 715-2893 19