States fear cuts in Medicaid eligibility, benefits
September 30th, 2009From the New York Times:
Enrollment in Medicaid is climbing to record highs, prompting grave concerns among the states about the future of the government health insurance for poor people and those with disabilities, according to a survey released Wednesday.
An annual survey of state Medicaid directors, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, found enrollment growing by an average of 5.4 percent in the previous fiscal year, the highest rate in six years. Eight states reported increases of more than ten percent.
… state officials are already panicking about how to compensate when the spike in federal matching funds expires at the end of 2010. Few anticipate any significant reduction in their Medicaid rolls by then.
“Many states believe they may be pressured to consider previously unthinkable eligibility and benefit reductions,” the Kaiser report concluded. Unless Congress and President Obama extend the federal aid, the cuts needed to balance state budgets may be “on a scale not ever seen in Medicaid,” the authors warned.
“What we will have to look at is wholesale elimination of eligibility groups,” [said a Nevada official.]
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October 5th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
States won’t spend any more money because of higher Medicaid enrollment because they will simply recoup money from providers! I am a Medicaid provider in KY and it’s a sad mess. The State has just about bankrupted and put my agency out of business. We provide wonderful supports to those we serve with MR/DD. However, the State “creates” unbelievable ways to recoup our hard earned reimbursements. Thus…the state makes cuts by recouping from providers. As a result, KY is going to slowly loose many GOOD providers. And guess where the clients will end up? Back in institutions! So sad really. I can leave the business and chalk it up to failure, move on, and survive. But…what happens to the lives of those I currently serve? It doesn’t work out as well for them. But the state couldn’t care less!
Thank you for your hard work!