Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Proposed Budget Would Enact More Tax Cuts at the Expense of Commitments to Health Care March 11 press release from the Center for American Progress - "Congress is currently considering budget plans that follow the president’s lead and prioritize tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of Medicaid funding.  The budget resolutions under consideration in the House and Senate would each cut federal funding for Medicaid by approximately $15 billion while providing additional money for tax changes, which would include $23 billion in tax cuts for capital gains and dividends.The Medicaid cuts would have important implications for states’ budgets and for health care for the poor. At the same time, the budgets under consideration contains tens of billions of dollars in new tax cuts, which would overwhelmingly benefit those best able to make the sacrifices necessary to reduce the deficit. This analysis examines the state-by-state impact of the federal Medicaid cuts as proposed by the president and the Congress, and juxtaposes the results with state-by-state data on the magnitude of the tax cuts under consideration." See also the "state by state impact calculator" on the same page and the full report (in Adobe Acrobat format).  
  

Medicaid in 2005: Principles and Proposals for Reform A February 2005 report (in Adobe Acrobat format) prepared for the National Governors Association by Health Management Associates - "The purpose of this paper is to look at the issues, problems and challenges that face Medicaid in 2005, the outlook for the future, and to offer principles and options for reform. Focusing o­n issues and problems should not suggest an unawareness of the good that Medicaid does. Indeed, it is not an overstatement to say that millions of people can be affected when Medicaid policy changes are made, both at the state and national levels. From the beginning of life to its end, it is Medicaid that makes the difference for many of the nations’ most vulnerable citizens who would otherwise lack the means to afford the health care they need. Medicaid has a special role to play in several important areas, including assuring prenatal care, caring for babies in neonatal intensive care units, providing well-child preventive care and acute care for children that helps them stay healthy in school, providing long-term care and intensive care for persons with chronic conditions and disabilities and for persons with mental illness, and filling the gaps in Medicare for the nation’s low-income seniors."  
  

Medicaid reform may be too late for some states Story at American Medical News - "Congressional lawmakers want to get Medicaid reform done by the end of the year, but for some states, that might not be soon enough. Huge growth in the program over the past five years is driving both the federal and state governments to focus on the issue. Governors are facing difficult decisions about how to deal with growing Medicaid deficits that are eating away at their budgets and crowding out other programs. But states already have trimmed much of the fat, as well as some of the meat. Before long, they could find themselves cutting into bone, experts said..."