Clip files / Local news from the states
Clip files / Local news from the states
This column features selected short items about state health care policy.
Critics of health spending in Michigan square off
DETROIT—Michigan’s Medicaid program is under attack by hospitals and physicians as "severely underfunded." The program is being blamed for the closure of hospitals in Detroit, and U.S. Rep. John Dingell of Dearborn and other congressional Democrats are seeking a new audit of the program.
But the full picture is far more complicated — and does not support the kind of state funding increases that physicians and hospitals have been demanding ever since the Medicaid program was reformed in 1997. This reform created a managed care approach, with parts of the program administered by health maintenance organizations (HMOs).
Critics of the program are basing their complaints on a recent study by the respected state Senate Fiscal Agency. However, state legislators trying to determine the appropriate levels of Medicaid funding in the state budget ought to disregard the hype — and consider what the Senate Fiscal Agency’s work to date really reveals.
To be sure, a study released by the agency last month showed that Medicaid reimburses physicians on average only 52.1% of what the federal Medicare program does. This, the Michigan State Medical Society suggests, proves that the state’s shift to managed care has bled money from the program.
—The Detroit News, editorial, June 11
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