HB 1490 - DIGEST

Declares that the federal deficit reduction act of 2005 allows states to redesign their medicaid programs, creating more flexibility in benefit and cost-sharing designs and giving enrollees more opportunity to decide how they use their health care benefits. Specifically, the deficit reduction act allows for ten states to operate medicaid demonstration programs to test alternative systems to deliver medicaid benefits through a health opportunity account in combination with a high deductible health plan. Washington state should continue to be a leader in health care policy and submit a state plan amendment to the center for medicaid and medicare to be one of the ten states to implement a health opportunity account demonstration program.