State Budgets and Medicaid

Plan would trade Medicaid funds for flexibility, By Julie Rovner, May 5, 2011, National Public Radio: “Most of the debate about the budget plan passed by House Republicans last month centers on the dramatic changes it would make to the Medicare health program for seniors. But the proposal calls for potentially even bigger changes to the Medicaid program for the poor. Medicaid actually covers more people than Medicare. In 2010, according to the most recent estimates from the Department of Health and Human Services, Medicaid covered 53.9 million people, compared with Medicare’s 47.3 million. Medicaid’s patients are also among the most vulnerable in society…”