In its new budget, the Administration proposes net federal Medicaid funding cuts equal to $14 billion over the next five years and $35.5 billion over ... Read more
On January 27, the Congressional Budget Office issued a new analysis of the Medicaid provisions of the budget reconciliation conference agreement, [1] ... Read more
On February 1, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the budget reconciliation agreement, which contains a little-noticed mandate requiring U.S. citizens covered ... Read more
New details contained in South Carolina’s revised proposal to replace its Medicaid program with a system of state-funded personal health accounts show the plan is ... Read more
Key Findings South Carolina’s proposal to replace its Medicaid program with a system of private accounts would reduce health coverage for many vulnerable state residents and raise their out-of-pocket health care costs significantly. The funds provided by the state for health care would very likely be inadequate for people with above-average health care needs, such as those with disabilities, chronic diseases, or other serious illnesses. The proposal rests on key untested assumptions, such as the belief that a system of managed care plans and provider networks will rapidly emerge in South Carolina to serve Medicaid beneficiaries. The waiver is unlikely to reduce the state’s Medicaid expenditures, because it focuses on beneficiaries whose care already is the least expensive, on average, while entailing a substantial increase in the state’s administrative costs. Read more
Key Findings The budget agreement would cause considerable hardship among low-income families and individuals and is closer in key respects to the original House-passed bill than the Senate bill. Cuts in the final bill include: $16 billion over 10 years in increased Medicaid co-payments and premiums and benefit reductions; new federal mandates in the welfare area that would lead to a loss of an estimated 255,000 child care slots for low-income working families not receiving cash welfare assistance; and nearly $8 billion in lost child support collections over the next 10 years. Such cuts could have been largely or fully averted had the conferees not dropped several Senate provisions that would have achieved substantial savings in reining in excessive Medicare payments to managed care companies and securing better prices from pharmaceutical companies for drugs dispensed though Medicaid. The savings that the budget agreement produces are expected to be used not to reduce the deficit, but to help finance several tax cuts slated to be enacted early next year that will primarily benefit high-income individuals. Read more
The budget reconciliation conference agreement which passed the Senate would have a significant impact on state budgets. The agreement includes numerous changes to low-income programs ... Read more
The Deficit Reduction Act, which was signed by the President on February 8 th , contains a provision that would require all citizens applying for ... Read more
A bill nearing final passage in Congress that would cut programs such as Medicaid, student loans, and child support enforcement contains a little-noticed provision that ... Read more
Executive Summary Several states, including South Carolina and Florida, have proposed radically changing Medicaid from a program that reimburses health care providers for the services ... Read more
