Medicaid benefit recovery.

WORKING DRAFT
2013
STATE OF
WYOMING
13LSO-0173.E1

SENATE FILE

NO.
SF0072

Medicaid benefit recovery.

Sponsored by:
Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Interim Committee

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to
Medicaid benefit recovery;
amending provisions for recovery of
Medicaid
expenses from parents
;
authorizing the departments of health and family services to cooperate in collecting child support and recoupment

of Medicaid expenses as specified; granting rulemaking authority;
requiring reports;
providing appropriations; authorizing transfer of funds;
and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.

W.S. 42
‑
4
‑
208(a)
(i), (ii), by creating a new paragraph (iii)
,
(b)
and by creating new subsection
s
(d)
and (e)
is
amended to read:

42
‑
4
‑
208.

Recovery for cost of health care.

(a)

The department, to the extent necessary to reimburse its costs, shall be entitled
to recover from any parent who:

(i)

I
s required by court or administrative order to provide coverage of the cost of health services to a child eligible for medical assistance under this act
;
and

(ii)

Has received payment from a third party for the costs of such services but has not used the payments to reimburse either the other parent or guardian of the child or the provider of the services
;
.

or

(iii)

Has sufficient income or assets to reimburse the department for expenses involved in the childbirth.

(b)

The department shall be entitled to enforce any judgment entered pursuant to this section by garnishment or any other available statutory remedy
, either alone or in coordination with the department of family services acting pursuant to W.S. 20
‑
2
‑
309(a)(iv)
.

The department of health, to the extent allowable under federal law and regulations,
may coordinate its recovery of amounts pursuant to this section with the department of family services.

(d)

In addition to its authority

pursuant
to
subsection (a) of this section, t
he department shall have authority pursuant to rules and regulations to request the assistance of mothers who receive prenatal and childbirth benefits in establishing paternity
and pursuing reimbursement of expenses for those benefits
from the child's father, to the maximum extent allowable under federal law and regulations
.

(e)

The department shall not recover under this section from a person who is the donor of any egg or sperm, unless otherwise agreed in a writing signed by the donor prior to conception using the donated egg or sperm, if:

(i)

The egg or sperm is provided to a licensed physician or to a licensed sperm bank for use in artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization;

(ii)

The donor intends that the donated egg will be used with the sperm, or the donated sperm will be used with an egg, of a person who is not the donor's spouse and who is unknown to the donor;

(iii)

At the time of the donation, no contact between the donor and any child conceived using the donated egg or sperm is implied or expected.

Section
2
.

(a)

The department of health shall report annually
by October 1 for five (5) years
to the joint labor, health and social services interim committee regarding:

(i)

Amounts collected
pursuant to W.S. 42
‑
4
‑
208
during the previous year for
reimbursement of
Medicaid benefit
s;

(ii)

The percentage of children born in Wyoming for whom the Medicaid program paid the costs of childbirth;

(iii)

The income distribution of Wyoming residents of child bearing age.

Section 3.

(a)

There is appropriated to the department of health within the healthcare finance program for the purposes of this act:

(i)

Twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) in general funds; and

(ii)

Twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) in federal funds.

(b)

The department of health may contract with independent legal counsel or may transfer to the department of family services or the attorney general's office twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) in general funds and twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) in federal funds from the healthcare finance program for the purpose of implementing this act. Any transfer of funds pursuant to this section shall be in accordance with the b-11 process authorized by W.S. 9
‑
2
‑
1005(b)(ii). The department of health shall report any transfer of funds, the expenditure of those funds and the results of the expenditure to the joint appropriations interim committee and the joint labor, health and social services interim committee by December 31, 2014. Transfer of all funds authorized by this subsection shall not be subject to the limits imposed in 2012 Wyoming Session Laws, Chapter 26, Section 309.

Section
4
.

This act is effective July 1, 2013.

(END)

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SF0072