Tuesday, December 14, 2004

State feels squeeze on Medicaid (Wisconsin)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story - "With little more than a month left to prepare Wisconsin's next two-year budget, Gov. Jim Doyle and top state officials are facing tough choices on how to fix the $800 million funding shortfall in the state's Medicaid program. They're doing what they can to avoid the more common choices of states weathering funding crises: reduce the number of people who qualify, eliminate some of the services covered or lower the amount paid to those who provide care to Medicaid recipients. ... Medicaid, the health care safety net for more than one in seven Wisconsin residents - most of them low-income people who are elderly, disabled or children - is one of the biggest chunks of the state budget, with the program spending $4.2 billion this year."