A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO DIRECT THE Department of Health and Human Services TO APPLY FOR A MEDICAID WAIVER TO PROVIDE PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE FOR ELDERLY AND DISABLED PERSONS NOT OTHERWISE ELIGIBLE FOR MEDICAID, and to authorize expenditure of funds from the health and wellness trust fund and the general fund to fund the waiver.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The Department of Health and Human Services shall apply to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for a Medicaid waiver to provide prescription drug coverage for elderly and disabled persons:
(1)	Who are over age 65 or disabled;
(2)	Who are not eligible for Medicaid; 
(3)	Who do not have coverage for prescription drugs under public or private health insurance; and
(4)	Whose family income is between one hundred percent (100%) and two hundred percent (200%) of the federal poverty level.
The waiver may limit the amount of the prescription drug benefit to not less than one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) annually per person covered. The waiver may also provide for co-payments by the covered person of not more than five dollars ($5.00) per person per prescription for generic drugs, and not more than fifteen dollars ($15.00) per person per prescription for brand-name drugs. If the waiver is approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, then the Department shall implement the waiver using funds authorized in Section 2 of this act.
SECTION 2.   Notwithstanding G.S. 147‑86.30, the Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission shall allocate a portion of the funds allocated for its prescription drug program to fund the State match for the waiver approved by CMS as described in Section 1 of this act.  If funds allocated by the Commission for its prescription drug program are insufficient to fund both the full amount of the State match for the waiver and other purposes for which the Commission's prescription drug program funds are allocated, then the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance, shall use funds available in the Medical Assistance program budget to provide the balance necessary for the State match to fund the waiver obtained pursuant to Section 1 of this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.