Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Medicaid News In Two States

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 19 Jan 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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Summaries of recent news involving Medicaid in Kentucky and Wisconsin appear below.

• Kentucky: The deficit in the Kentucky Medicaid program has grown to $231.8 million from $183 million last year, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Janie Miller told the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee on Wednesday, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. Miller said the deficit is increasing because more state residents -- currently 747,000 people -- are eligible for Medicaid (Loftus, Louisville Courier-Journal, 1/14). She said that about 3,000 state residents enroll in Medicaid each month. According to Miller, the state's share of the deficit for the federal match is about $69.5 million. State officials are hoping the federal government passes a stimulus that will help offset the deficit (AP/Lexington Herald-Leader, 1/14). The committee is hearing from state officials in preparation for addressing the state's projected budget shortfall of $456 million during the current fiscal year (Louisville Courier-Journal, 1/14).
  
  
• Wisconsin: The administration of Gov. Jim Doyle (D) on Wednesday announced a plan to tax revenue of most hospitals in the state to garner about $393.5 million more in federal aid, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. According to officials at the state Department of Health Services, every $1 of tax revenue would generate $1.65 from the federal government for Wisconsin hospitals. The majority of the money would be returned to hospitals that treat Medicaid patients. Some of the funding would pay health care costs for 41,000 low-income, childless adults. If the hospital tax is enacted, the state could use tax dollars originally planned for health care to help relieve the state budget deficit. Some Republicans are critical of the plan. State Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald called it a "sick tax" and said he was concerned the money would be used for things other than health care (Walters/Forster, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1/14).

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.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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