In my last column, reductions to education in the supplemental budget were the main focus. This week, we will look at the department that receives nearly 30 percent of general fund appropriations, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

In state government, Health and Human Services is one of the largest departments, as DHHS is responsible for assisting families and individuals in need of healthcare, adoption services, long term care, and numerous other services.

In the past several years, demands on social services have increased greatly, while revenues have decreased. Health and Human Services has seen a decrease of $32 million from its budget and 300 positions eliminated from the department over the last eight years. In this budget cycle, Health and Human Services is one of the hardest-hit, facing a reduction of just over $128 million.

The largest portion of this reduction is to MaineCare, totaling $108.5 million. Because MaineCare is a joint state/federal program, it is funded roughly one-third by our General Fund and the federal government provides the rest. One of the proposals in the supplemental budget is to reduce the rate of reimbursement to MaineCare providers by 10 percent. While this proposal does not affect physicians, dentists or pharmacists, it is slated to produce $14.5 million in savings.

Also suggested in the governor’s budget is a proposal to change how hospitals are reimbursed under the MaineCare program. By reclassifying the way costs are worked out for inpatient and outpatient services and aligning the process with federal standards, the state could potentially save over $2 million. Another idea, which could produce up to $5.5 million, is to reduce the amount of services that are provided to MaineCare clients.

Despite the Health and Human Services Committee rejecting more than half of the recommended cuts in the supplemental budget, they did come up with a way to save money, add temporary workers and strengthen the Medicaid disability determination process in their report back to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee. The committee suggested that by adding workers to process Medicaid disability applications, DHHS could shorten the time period for determination by 15 days and avoid federal penalties that would be assessed for applications that have not been decided within 45 days. Even with the extra workers added, a savings of $2.5 million would be realized from this proposal.

The Appropriations Committee will spend the next few weeks thoroughly going over each recommendation that has been received. This process requires an enormous amount of time, as the budget is quite long and each decision that needs to be made is substantial. Any committee that has not reported back with alternative options to the cuts that they have rejected, forces the Appropriations Committee to look for other solutions or make tough choices. With the Health and Human Services Committee, they will continue to work on alternatives to the cuts that they discarded in the supplemental budget and will report back again with these options.

Sen. Bill Diamond, a resident of Windham, represents the communities of Casco, Frye Island, Raymond, Standish, Windham and Hollis in Maine Senate District 12.