State spending on Medicaid skyrockets, further straining state budgets

A 50-state survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that state spending on Medicaid will increase 29 percent this year. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)

The Washington Post: State Spending On Medicaid Up Sharply
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 (Aizenman, 10/27).

Kaiser Health News: State Medicaid Spending Skyrockets
State Medicaid spending is projected to grow by an average of 29 percent in the budget year that began July 1, the biggest increase in the history of the federal-state health insurance program for the poor and disabled, according to a report released Thursday (Galewitz, 10/27).

Bloomberg: State Medicaid Cuts May Not Offset Loss Of Federal Aid In Flagging Economy
State spending in the U.S. on Medicaid will surge 29 percent this year, even as governors slash the health program's benefits and payments to hospitals and doctors, a survey showed. States will have to spend more on the health program for the poor to offset the loss of $100 billion in U.S. funds authorized by the 2009 economic stimulus law and to accommodate higher enrollment due to the flagging economy, according to an annual survey of Medicaid officials released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation. "Unemployment remains high with increasing numbers of poor and uninsured keeping pressure on state budgets and Medicaid programs to meet growing needs," said Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Menlo Park, California-based health-policy research group, in a statement (Wayne, 10/27).

Stateline: Survey: States Counting On Lower Costs As Medicaid Enrollment Slows
As states were drafting their 2012 Medicaid budgets this summer, they faced the biggest leap in general fund spending since the program began -; a whopping 29 percent increase. That's mainly because federal stimulus dollars for the program dried up, leaving states to shoulder their traditional share of the bill -; about 50 percent. As a result, state lawmakers authorized only a 2 percent increase in overall spending for the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people -; one of the lowest growth rates on record. That's according to a 50-state survey released Thursday (October 27) by the Kaiser Family Foundation (Vestal, 10/28).

The Hill: Study: Medicaid Is Mounting Strain On State Budgets
Medicaid's burden on the states is swelling rapidly, leaving them scrambling for ways to make cuts. States are heading into 2012 saddled from all sides with more responsibility for Medicaid, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. And states are facing that strain just as the congressional super committee is looking to further reduce federal health spending, potentially including Medicaid cuts that could shift even more costs to the states (Baker, 10/27).

National Journal: With Stimulus Funds Gone, States Brace For Increased Medicaid Spending
Nearly every state moved to cut Medicaid costs this fiscal year because of budget pressures and the loss of federal stimulus funds, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report released on Thursday. Stimulus spending cushioned states from Medicaid expenditures in 2009 and 2010 -; making those two years the only period in the program's history when state Medicaid spending did not rise. With stimulus funds gone, state spending on Medicaid is expected to increase by an average of 28.7 percent in the next fiscal year, the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured found (Quinton, 10/27).