Matt Salo Discusses Potential Medicaid Program Reforms Under Proposed Reconciliation Legislation (August 11th)

This past Tuesday Senate Democrats passed a $3.5 trillion budget resolution what would allow Congressional Democrats to fund significant health care reforms along with education, immigration, climate crisis and other termed “care economy” policies.  Among other healthcare policies Congressional Democrats are working to fund are expansions to Medicare coverage, boost by $400 billion Medicaid Home and Community Based Service (HCBS ) waiver funding and address health equity issues.  Dedicated listeners may recall I interviewed Matt in March 2017.  

During this 40 minute interview, Matt Salo discusses, in sum, the merits of Medicaid reform policies Democrats have already outlined beginning with improvements in long term care, again, expanding HCBS waiver funding.  He discusses several related Medicaid reform policies NAMD has already identified, discusses Medicaid-related social determinants funding, the merits of expanding value based purchasing arrangements in the Medicaid program and issues concerning Medicaid access and provider participation in the Medicaid program.  

Mr. Matt Salo has served as Executive Director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) for the past decade.  NAMD represents all 56 of the nation’s state and territorial Medicaid Directors, and provides them with a strong unified voice in national discussions as well as a locus for technical assistance and best practices.  Mr. Salo formerly worked for 12 years at the National Governors Association where he forwarded the Governors’ health care and human services reform agendas.  He worked previously for five years as a health policy analyst for state Medicaid Directors at the American Public Human Services Association.  He also spent two years as a substitute teacher in the public school system in Alexandria, VA.  Mr. Salo holds a BA in Eastern Religious Studies from the University of Virginia.

Information on NAMD is at: https://medicaiddirectors.org/about/.

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