State Medicaid Programs

Posted on January 12, 2011 by townsend

• Healthcare safety nets kept intact with help from Washington, By Noam N. Levey, January 12, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Bolstered by billions of dollars in aid from Washington, states managed to hold their healthcare safety nets together last year despite the fallout from the recession, a new survey shows. Several states actually expanded coverage for poor children and adults, using Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to prevent more Americans from losing insurance in the economic downturn, according to the report by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Now, however, with emergency federal aid scheduled to end this year, it is unclear how much longer financially strained states will be able to head off cutbacks. Republican governors, many of whom have criticized the new healthcare law’s dependence on Medicaid to guarantee all Americans coverage, are pushing the Obama administration for permission to cut their programs…”
• Feds helped states sustain Medicaid, By Catherine Candisky, January 12, 2011, Columbus Dispatch: “Almost no state threw people out of its tax-funded Medicaid program last year, a new report found. In fact, more than half made it easier for qualified poor and disabled residents to enroll, blunting a spike in the ranks of the uninsured despite the recession and tight state budgets. Ohio was among both groups. A big reason: Billions in added federal aid to states were contingent on them not dropping Medicaid recipients, the annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found. The report comes just four days after Ohio Gov. John Kasich and 32 other Republican governors sent a letter to President Barack Obama and congressional leaders urging them to allow states to cut Medicaid without risking federal cuts. Ohio is facing a projected $8 billion shortfall in its next two-year state budget as state Medicaid rolls have reached 2 million, including 1 in 3 children. A few states, including Texas, have suggested eliminating Medicaid entirely…”
• Coverage for millions – especially kids – at stake in governors’ request, By Jim Saunders, January 11, 2011, Miami Herald: “Florida Gov. Rick Scott and other Republican governors are asking the federal government to give them more power to trim Medicaid eligibility to help control costs. But a report released today has a different take on the situation: It credits federal requirements with helping avoid cutbacks in Medicaid and children’s health programs, as states have dealt with huge budget shortfalls during the past year. ‘Keeping these programs stable and strong has helped protect children and avoid an even larger increase in the nation’s 50 million uninsured and will be key to ensuring the success of health-reform implementation over the next few years,’ Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, said in prepared statement. The report, released by the foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, found that eligibility and enrollment requirements remained the same or improved in almost every state during 2010 in the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program…”