Medicaid Uncertainty Leaves Legislators Anxious (VA)
April 23, 2010
A boost in federal Medicaid funding that would reverse $370 million in severe health care cuts in Virginia is in jeopardy, a state government group is warning, prompting anxiety among lawmakers who had viewed the infusion as a near-certainty.
The bill that carries the $25 billion extension of the stimulus’ Medicaid benefits — while approved in both the U.S. House and Senate — has been bogged down by the need to match the new spending with offsetting cuts, said Michael Bird, federal affairs counsel for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The thirst for those budget-balancing savings has intensified, Bird said, as seen in the recent battle between Senate Democrats and Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., over a similar bill extending unemployment insurance.
"All of the fury over deficit reduction and the need to curb spending, competing with those who want to invest, has taken some of the certainty out of it," Bird told the Washington Examiner.
The group’s alert, referring to the Medicaid extension as "on the ropes," spooked Virginia lawmakers this week.
And the anxiety is far from contained to the commonwealth. In Florida, a state budget official warned "appetite may be waning on the Hill" for the Medicaid extension, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell in a letter this week urged his state’s congressional delegation to support the six-month infusion, calling it essential "to ensuring that this economic recovery takes hold."
The Virginia General Assembly finalized a budget on Wednesday evening that would, without the federal funds, force a steep reduction in reimbursements to health ca re providers and cuts to services for the elderly and disabled.
That means more doctors and dentists in already medically underserved areas simply will stop seeing Medicaid patients, said state Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, chairman of the Senate Education and Health Committee.
"You’re taking another 3 and 4 percent on top of what [providers] have already taken," Houck said. "That is a very serious proposition."
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Medicaid-uncertainty-leaves-Va_-legislators-anxious-91867819.html#ixzz0lvtBjgXE