State Medicaid Programs

Posted on January 27, 2011 by townsend

• Hospitals, poor patients face new costs, By Kay Lazar and Stephen Smith, January 27, 2011, Boston Globe: “Payments to hospitals and other health care providers would be slashed and low-income patients served by Medicaid would have to pay higher copayments under the spending plan Governor Deval Patrick proposed yesterday for the next budget year. But the biggest savings in the $10 billion program that serves 1.2 million residents would come from revising and rebidding Medicaid contracts to encourage health care providers to work together to drive down costs. With health care spending, including Medicaid, now making up 39 percent of the state budget, Patrick said it was time to take aggressive action to halt the relentless trend upward…”
• Minnesota health CEOs taking a whack at Medicaid, By Warren Wolfe, January 26, 2011, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Concerned that the Legislature and governor might get it wrong, CEOs from seven major health plans and providers have drawn up their own plan to streamline Minnesota’s massive Medicaid program — and carve $1.8 billion from the projected $6.2 billion deficit. The plan is sure to draw political fire. It suggests up to $170 million in cuts to state-funded services that help keep the elderly and disabled out of institutions, for example, and captures $280 million in higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol. Nonetheless, its influential authors and specific targets will make it part of the debate as lawmakers grapple with a state budget in which health care consumes 30 percent of all spending…”
• Gov. Steve Beshear wants Medicaid funds shifted to avoid shortage, By Deborah Yetter, January 19, 2011, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Seeking to prevent deep cuts in services, Gov. Steve Beshear said Wednesday that he will ask lawmakers to shift $166.5 million from next year’s Medicaid budget into the current fiscal year. The maneuver would allow Kentucky to draw more federal matching money for Medicaid from federal stimulus funds, though it only postpones the need to achieve savings or make cuts in the program. The stimulus funds expire June 30, which is also the end of the current fiscal year. If nothing is done, Kentucky’s $6 billion-a-year Medicaid program could wind up as much as $600 million short this year, the governor said. And that, he said, could lead to ‘devastating’ cuts of up to 30 percent in the federal-state health plan for the poor and disabled that serves more than 800,000 people…”