A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to protect access to Medicaid waivers by dependents of members of the armed forces.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The Department of Health and Human Services shall ensure that the eligibility criteria for Medicaid home‑ and community‑based waivers allow the dependent of a member of the Armed Forces to maintain the dependent's waiver status upon the transfer of the service member to an assignment outside of North Carolina, so long as the service member maintains the State of North Carolina as the legal residence to which the service member intends to return following completion of military service and the dependent meets Medicaid eligibility criteria and all other waiver eligibility criteria upon returning to North Carolina. Consequently, a dependent who is on the waiting list for a waiver slot shall maintain the dependent's position on the waiting list. A dependent who was receiving waiver services prior to the service member's transfer, upon the dependent's return to North Carolina, shall be reinstated to the dependent's waiver slot, if the slot remains available, or shall receive a priority position on the waiting list for the next available waiver slot. This section shall not be construed to authorize the provision of waiver services outside of North Carolina.
SECTION 2.  The Department of Health and Human Services shall submit any Medicaid State Plan Amendments or waiver amendments necessary to accomplish the requirements in Section 1 of this act.
SECTION 3.  Section 1 of this act becomes effective January 1, 2017. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.