The governors worry Congress will give the states expensive new Medicaid obligations without providing enough new money to pay for them.
"We can't afford to have Congress raise the eligibility for Medicaid coverage without paying for it," Ms. Gregoire said in an interview.
If anything, the states' fears were stoked further last week when House lawmakers drafting health legislation reached a cost compromise with conservative Blue Dog Democrats that would force states to take on a greater Medicaid spending burden than an earlier version of the bill.
"This is profoundly disappointing and makes a bad situation much worse," said Doug Porter, Washington State’s Medicaid director.
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I think Washington State needs to take a look at it's Medicaid eligibility rules. Both of the scare stories in that article were people who are Medicare eligible. Why is the state funding them?
ReplyDeleteHopefully someone in Congress will get the CBO to score the legislation's effects on states. Once they get wind of their increased costs they'll start raising more of a fuss.