CQ HealthBeat Examines Debate Over New Medicaid Regulations
The regulations are "part of a years-long tug of war between states and the federal government over who should pay what for Medicaid," CQ HealthBeat reports. The Bush administration argues that states have "used schemes of questionable legality to collect more federal payments than they deserve" -- an argument backed by Government Accountability Office reports, according to CQ HealthBeat. However, John Folkemer, deputy secretary of Health Care Financing at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said, "The reaction of a lot of us is 'Well fine then, stop that state from doing it, don't come up with a solution and a hammer that hits 55 jurisdictions because you have a problem with one or two,'" adding, "It's a solution with no problem."
Folkemer said it would be impossible to comply with some of the rules, and states would be forced to cut services. Ken Deibert, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security in the Division of Children, Youth, and Families, said, "I would hope that CMS take into consideration the irreparable harm that will be caused to the states" by these rules.
Lawmakers are working to stop some of the rules from taking effect. For example, the Senate added an amendment to its Indian Health Care Improvement Act reauthorization bill (S 1200) that would block a rule aimed at preventing states from billing the federal government for some targeted case management services. The rule is scheduled to take effect on Monday, but the House has not yet acted on the measure (Johnson, CQ HealthBeat, 2/29). Editorial
"With a new administration set to take office next January and implement its own approach toward health care and other spending issues, now is hardly the time to make drastic changes in the way Medicaid is administered," a Memphis Commercial Appeal editorial states. The editorial adds that "every state is struggling to meet the health care challenges presented by an estimated 47 million Americans who are without health insurance," and Congress must "do what it can to keep Medicaid dollars flowing and state finances from getting worse." A "top priority" for the next administration should be "to scrutinize and demand accountability for the manner in which states spend Medicaid funds," according to the Commercial Appeal (Memphis Commercial Appeal, 3/2).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
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