Georgia Governor Discusses Medicaid Proposal with Federal Officials

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 30 May 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue (R) on Wednesday met with... HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, CMS Administrator Mark McClellan and Dennis Smith, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations, to discuss a previously unpublicized plan to make changes to the state's Medicaid program, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Under the proposal, Perdue would accept caps on federal funding in return for greater flexibility to administer the program. The governor's plan would:

• Raise copayments for prescription drugs;
  
  
• Create copayments for nursing home residents' and children's prescription drugs;
  
  
• Cut certain services for low-income children;
  
  
• Limit nursing home coverage for Medicaid beneficiaries;
  
  
• Encourage less-costly care for the elderly and disabled by promoting home- and community-based care programs; and
  
  
• Allow beneficiaries to select doctors, hospitals and health care services and compare their cost and quality through a Web site.
  

"We want to expand people's choices," Heather Hendrick, a spokesperson for Perdue, said. Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor (D), who is expected to run for governor next year, said, "[T]he bottom line is that women, children and the elderly across the state are not going to be able to afford or access lifesaving health care services" (Miller/Jacobs, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/26).

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