Florida, Maryland And Michigan Address Medicaid During State Budget Discussions

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 05 Nov 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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Summaries of recent news coverage about fiscal year 2008 state budgets for Florida, Maryland and Michigan appear below.

• Florida: Gov. Charlie Crist (R) on Oct. 26 signed legislation enacting a fiscal year 2008 budget that includes $1.1 billion in spending reductions, the AP/Orlando Sentinel reports. According to the Sentinel, "Health care for the poor is among the areas suffering the biggest cuts in the revised budget." The cuts include $233.8 million from Medicaid and $164.5 million from nursing homes that care for low-income residents. The cuts were made to address a budget shortfall caused by weak home sales and a sagging economy, according to the Sentinel (AP/Orlando Sentinel, 10/28).
  
  
• Maryland: Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) on Tuesday said if his proposal to legalize slot machines is rejected, it would limit his plan to expand health care to 100,000 of the state's 800,000 uninsured residents, the Washington Times reports. O'Malley has proposed using profits from as many as 15,000 slot machines and tax increases to close an estimated $1.5 billion budget shortfall and fund additional state spending. Under O'Malley's health care proposal, the state would help small businesses provide health coverage to employees and also extend coverage to families with incomes up to 116% of the federal poverty level. However, if lawmakers do not support the slot machine plan, O'Malley will not be able to expand coverage to all adults with incomes up to 116% of the poverty level. O'Malley estimates the slot machines could bring in as much as $700 million within four to five years. The slots proposal needs to receive 60% of the vote in each chamber to be placed on the November 2008 statewide ballot (LoBianco, Washington Times, 10/31).
  
  
• Michigan: State lawmakers on Wednesday approved the $9.7 billion FY 2008 state budget that would increase Medicaid spending by $154 million, the Detroit Free Press reports. Along with federal aid, Medicaid funding would increase by $373 million this fiscal year (Christoff, Detroit Free Press, 10/31). According to the Detroit News, the overall Community Health budget would increase from $11.4 billion in FY 2007 to $12.04 billion in FY 2008. To prevent Medicaid cuts, doctors and hospitals agreed to pay an additional $60 million for a hospital quality assurance program that draws matching money from the federal government (Hornbeck/Heinlein, Detroit News, 10/31).

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