Medicaid and Military Veterans

States save by moving vets from Medicaid’s rolls to VA’s, By Pamela M. Prah, July 18, 2011, Stateline.org: “A growing number of states are shifting health care costs to the federal government by finding military veterans who receive Medicaid and signing them up for medical benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Arizona, California and Texas are among the states that are working to replicate a program first launched in Washington State. That program, begun in 2003, has moved some 9,500 veterans from the state’s Medicaid rolls to the VA’s. Washington State has avoided paying $27 million in health care bills this way – enough to make a small dent in a strained state budget. And veterans generally find that the benefits offered through the VA are more generous that what they were getting through the state…”