Clip files / Local news from the states
This column features selected short items about state health care policy.
Warner signs immigrant aid limits
RICHMOND, VA—Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner has signed a measure that tightens laws prohibiting illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits, including Medicaid and public assistance. The legislation requires state and local governments to verify whether anyone who requests nonemergency public benefits is in the United States legally. The General Assembly also considered bills that would have banned illegal immigrants from the state’s public colleges and universities and barred them from receiving workers’ compensation benefits, but those measures failed. Supporters of the legislation said Virginia’s public resources should be used only for legal immigrants, particularly as the cost of many services, such as Medicaid, continues to rise.
—Washington Post, March 30
Medicaid reform study clears Nebraska legislative hurdle
LINCOLN, NE—Despite concerns that a study of controlling Medicaid’s costs is predestined to result in a reduction of services to poor people, the Nebraska Legislature has given first-round approval to a bill calling for the examination. But opponents worried that looking at reigning in the cost of Medicaid alone was too narrow a focus.
Supporters of the study said if nothing is done to control Medicaid costs soon, there will be little money available for other state needs in about 20 years. The state is spending $470 million on the program this year, which is the second-largest item in the state’s budget. Medicaid is the fastest-growing part of the budget, increasing an average of 11% a year over the past 20 years.
—Lincoln Journal Star, April 12
Policy group says Rhode Island needs to tackle Medicaid issue
PROVIDENCE, RI—A business-backed policy group has called on public leaders to tackle the Rhode Island’s Medicaid program, warning its costs are growing so fast that it threatens other state functions. A Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) report said the Medicaid program will cost $1.8 billion next fiscal year, and is the largest single item in the state budget, accounting for 30 cents of every tax dollar spent. RIPEC projects that Medicaid will grow faster than state revenues. More people will enroll, as unemployment and the rising cost of health insurance make private insurance untenable.
The group wants officials to organize Medicaid under the Health and Human Services Secretariat, rather than continue to have it spread across five departments currently. RIPEC also advocates holding a Medicaid Summit with state and congressional officials to figure out to run the program more efficiently.
"The problem is casting a pall over the fiscal health of the entire state," said Gary Sasse, RIPEC executive director.
In 2002, Rhode Island ranked second nationwide, behind New York, in its per capita spending on Medicaid. Medicaid has increased from 25.2% of the state budget in 2000 to 30% in fiscal year 2006. By 2010, Medicaid spending will be $2.6 billion, enrolling 217,000 people, or one in five Rhode Islanders.
—Boston Globe, April 18
RICHMOND, VAVirginia Gov. Mark R. Warner has signed a measure that tightens laws prohibiting illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits, including Medicaid and public assistance.
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