State files controversial CMS waiver application

PROVIDENCE – The state last week submitted a proposal dubbed the “Rhode Island Consumer Choice Global Compact Waiver Application” to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), aiming to get the flexibility needed to implement major Medicaid reforms.
In exchange, Rhode Island would agree to a fixed Medicaid grant of $12.4 billion over five years – a provision that advocates for the poor and many in the health care sector say could expose the state to major shortfalls in a bad economy and force it to cut crucial services.
Rhode Island is the first state to seek this kind of waiver. •