Medicaid vision care funding advances

The Senate unanimously passed Wednesday a bill to give some long expected but undelivered vision care benefits to the poor or disabled who are Medicaid beneficiaries.

SB172 is designed to fix a problem that has legally prevented the state from spending $176,000 that the Legislature set aside for such care last year.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said that when the Legislature approved that money last year, it required a $10 co-pay from Medicaid recipients. But federal rules allowed no more than a $3 co-pay for such a program.

"The federal government did not give us a waiver to grant that" $10 co-pay, he said. So, "We've had money sitting there without being able to get vision benefits."

The bill formally allows a $3 co-pay, and instructs the state to begin offering the vision services. Valentine said he hopes for quick action by the House to finally deliver the vision care soon.

Valentine noted that the bill would fund vision benefits through the end of the current fiscal year, June 30. Funding beyond that depends on other appropriations bills.

Vision funding was part of a big issue two years ago in the 2006 Legislature. At that time, the Legislature did not fund dental and vision care for Medicaid recipients, but did fund a $15 million parking garage at the Capitol.

That brought protests by Medicaid recipients. Later, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. proposed funding the dental portion with private donations. The Legislature appropriated money for the programs the next year.