Rhode Island Medicaid Waiver

R.I. Medicaid agreement admired in other states, By Philip Marcelo, May 16, 2011, Providence Journal: “A Medicaid agreement reached nearly two years ago between Rhode Island and the federal government continues to be praised as a model for other states and the country, even as Rhode Island’s new governor questions how much it has actually saved. Republican governors in New Jersey and Kansas cite Rhode Island’s Medicaid agreement, known as the ‘global waiver,’ as a model for Medicaid reforms they say are needed to close budget deficits. So, too, do Republican-dominated state legislatures in Minnesota and Texas, according to national policy analysts. Leading conservative thinkers argue that the Rhode Island waiver shows how governments can save money by converting federal Medicaid spending into a block grant – a key piece of the federal budget recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. But Rhode Island’s role in the debate over the nation’s primary health-insurance program for the elderly, poor and disabled comes as Governor Chafee, an independent, continues to cast doubts as to whether the agreement has actually produced the promised savings…”