Saturday, February 02, 2002

Budget Would Cut Medicaid Payments
President Bush's budget would rein in the growth of Medicaid by reducing payments to public hospitals and by cracking down on state efforts to obtain extra federal money to finance health care for the poor, administration officials said today.

The administration says it is "closing loopholes" and curbing "abusive practices" that states have used to expand Medicaid without putting up all the state money required by federal law.

But state and local officials and members of Congress of both parties have objected to the administration plan. They said the cutbacks, expected to save $9 billion over the next five years, would harm Medicaid recipients and aggravate fiscal problems plaguing most states.

Two Republican governors, Jeb Bush of Florida and Rick Perry of Texas, have joined Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and the House delegations from New York and California in protesting the administration's plan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/02/politics/02HEAL.html

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