FAN may not lose Medicaid funding

Family Access Network (FAN) of Deschutes County may not lose all of its federal funding this June.

The non-profit has been bracing for a $650,000 loss in funding - 60 percent of its budget - as a result of changes in Medicaid rules instituted by the Bush administration. On Wednesday, April 23, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 349 to 62 to block the pending cuts.

The administration's rule changes enacted last January would curtail school-based medical services, the category under which FAN's funding falls. FAN, which started in 1993, partners with three Deschutes County school districts to connect needy children and families with basic needs such as shelter, food and health care.

"The two-thirds majority vote in the House is good, because that means it is veto proof in the House. President Bush has said he would veto it (the new legislation)," said FAN executive director Julie Lyche.

Although good news for FAN, the House vote is not an end in itself. Instead, it is a first step for FAN to maintain approximately $425,000 of its funding through April 1, 2009.

Next, the U.S. Senate is to vote on the legislation that places a moratorium on a portion of this year's mandated funding cuts, providing FAN with more time to develop a long-term plan for becoming self-sustaining.

"It certainly gives us a little bit of breathing room for next year, so we can look at our funding," said Lyche.

FAN plans to begin working with the new administration when it takes office in January with the goal of rescinding the administrative rule changes altogether.

"We'll continue to work with the federal government next year, as the new administration comes in and works with our legislators to try to either extend the moratorium (beyond April 1, 2009) or have the new administration get rid of the rule they (the Bush Administration) put in," said Lyche.

Should the bill not pass the Senate by a two-thirds majority, FAN will "... need to wait and see if the President vetoes it, and if he does veto it, it means that our Medicaid money will be gone starting June 1 (a little more than a month from now)."

Best case scenario is that if the bill becomes law, FAN's budget next year will be short only about $225,000 instead of $650,000.

In the meantime FAN is looking at what its budget will look like next year without any Medicaid funds.

"We felt it important to plan ahead if we didn't get it (the approximate $425,000), because if it happens it truly is an act of Congress," said Lyche. The non-profit's plan is to continue to assume it will have no Medicaid dollars next year, until final approval comes from Congress.

"Once we have that we can take a look at how we chose to budget and add back with the Medicaid money," said Lyche.