State spending on Medicaid up sharply

[alp227]

Source: Wash. Post

The expiration of federal stimulus funding for Medicaid has dealt a blow to states still struggling to recover from the economic downturn, according to figures released Thursday.

To compensate for the loss of extra federal Medicaid dollars this June, states have increased their spending on the program by an average of 29 percent in the current fiscal year.

Nearly every state also has turned to tough measures to trim Medicaid costs, such as eliminating benefits, reducing payment rates to doctors and hospitals, and increasing the co-payments they charge the poor and disabled served by the program.

Even so, more than half of state officials surveyed said there was a 50-50 chance their Medicaid programs — which are financed with a combination of state and federal funds — would face a budget shortfall as enrollment continues to rise.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/s...

[blueclown]

1. Get rid of Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and private insurance.

Create a national single-payer health care system, funded by an income surtax. This problem would be solved overnight. The U.S. health care system is way too needlessy fragmented. Take some of the pressure off states.

[jwirr]

2. Of course it is - so are food stamps. When you have this many people

out of work all of these safety net programs go up.