New Medicaid Regulations 'Backdoor Effort' To Reduce Cost Of Health Care For Low-Income Residents, Editorial States

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 05 May 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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"It's hard to imagine a worse time to cut billions in federal Medicaid spending, but that's what the Bush administration is doing" with the implementation of seven new regulations, a Baltimore Sun editorial states (Baltimore Sun, 5/2). Under the regulations, states could not use federal Medicaid funds to help pay for physician training. The regulations also would place new limits on Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and nursing homes operated by state and local governments and limit coverage of rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities and mental illnesses (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/30).

According to the editorial, Bush administration officials maintain that the rules are "necessary to close loopholes used by states" to increase the amount of federal Medicaid funds they receive, but state officials "say any loopholes could have been closed without using what they call a sledgehammer approach." The editorial states, "Let's face it: The Bush administration is using the changes in a backdoor effort to contain the mounting costs of providing basic medical care for the poor."

A "bipartisan, veto-proof majority in the House has already passed" a bill (HR 5613) that would delay implementation of the regulations for one year, and the Senate "should do the same," according to the editorial. However, President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation, and "Republican leaders in the Senate are siding with him," the editorial states. The editorial states that "it would be penny wise and pound foolish to cut healthy baby programs and outpatient and rehabilitation services," adding that a reduction in funds in "those areas could lead to costly medical emergencies that taxpayers will end up paying for" (Baltimore Sun, 5/2).

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.

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