Government
States say Medicaid rules could cost them $50 billion
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 24, 2008
States estimate that seven Medicaid regulations that have been imposed in recent months or are scheduled to go into effect this year will shift $50 billion in federal health spending to the states over five years.
This figure is $35 billion more than estimated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, according to a March 3 report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The rules implemented so far limit federal funding for targeted case management services and reduce state taxes on net patient revenues, among other changes. Congress delayed until later this year the implementation of rules that would end federal Medicaid matching dollars for graduate medical education, for juvenile justice and for administrative expenses in schools, such as certain program outreach efforts.
The delayed rules also would limit federal Medicaid matching funds for government-owned hospitals to the actual cost of services. The report can be found online oversight.house.gov/story.asp?id=1778.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/03/24/gvbf0324.htm.