HOUSE BILL NO. 14 "An Act repealing programs for catastrophic illness assistance and medical assistance for chronic and acute medical conditions." 10:24:23 AM Co-Chair Foster asked the bill sponsor to introduce the bill. 10:25:16 AM REPRESENTATIVE WILL STAPP, SPONSOR, noted that a similar bill had passed out of the committee and had passed the house nearly unanimously in the previous year. He reminded the committee that in the prior year the legislature defunded the Catastrophic Illness and Chronic or Acute Medical Conditions (CAMA) program because no Alaskans had applied for the program for many years. He cited the FY 2025 Midyear Status Report by the Legislative Finance Division for the Department of Health (DOH) that assessed how the departments were executing the current year's budget directives. He delineated that the question directed to the department was whether DOH had encountered any issues related to defunding the program. The agency responded that it had not encountered issues nor received any applications for assistance. He related that the program began in 1986 and was designed to bridge a gap for individuals who experienced a catastrophic event and were too young or could not qualify for Medicare and Medicaid. Medicaid expansion and other public assistance program changes since 1986 rendered CAMA null and void. Currently, Alaskans would likely "have better options on the federally facilitated marketplace" than under the CAMA program, thus the reason no Alaskans qualified for the program in the prior 3 years. 10:27:30 AM Co-Chair Foster asked for a review of the fiscal note. DEB ETHERIDGE, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (via teleconference), reviewed the published zero fiscal note for DOH (FN1(DOH) allocated to Public Assistance Field Services. She read the analysis on page 2 of the fiscal note as follows: Since the implementation of the Medicaid Expansion Group in 2015, most individuals now qualify for Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) Medicaid, eliminating the need for the Chronic and Acute Medical Assistance (CAMA) program. Currently, no one is using the service, as its only eligible populationlegal immigrants who do not meet the five-year residency requirement for Medicaidcan access alternative options through the federally facilitated marketplace. The Division can integrate the regulatory repeal of CAMA into regular updates with minimal impact on public assistance field services. Co-Chair Foster asked what happened to the bill in the prior year. Representative Stapp answered that the bill had made it to the Senate Finance Committee in the previous year and ran out of time. The committee had not heard the bill. However, the deletion of the program's funding was maintained in the budget. He thought the legislature should pass the bill and carry on. Representative Hannan stated the fiscal note showed that it cost nothing to cut the program. She asked if it saved any funding to cut the program. Ms. Etheridge responded that there had been a limited number of individuals who inadvertently applied for the program; nine had applied and were ineligible. The fiscal note reflected the very little change in the division's work. The program's elimination did not save or cost any money. Co-Chair Foster asked for the will of the committee regarding moving the bill out of committee. Representative Jimmie MOVED to REPORT HB 14 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. HB 14 was REPORTED out of committee with nine "do pass" recommendations and two "no recommendation" recommendations and with one previously published zero fiscal note: FN1 (DOH). Representative Stapp thanked the committee.