Medicaid and the health overhaul's goals

Mar 9 2011

Media outlets report on how the health overhaul interacts with Medicaid and whether it will ultimately have a positive or negative impact on states.

McClatchy: Will Health Care Law Raise States' Medicaid Costs?
The nation's Republican governors are raising a new complaint against the 2010 national health overhaul, which they deride as "Obamacare." They say it would drive up their Medicaid costs dramatically at a time they're already slashing their budgets to cope with debt. There's no question that the health care law will force states to expand their Medicaid services, but how that ultimately will affect states' costs is a matter of considerable dispute (Pugh, 3/8).

National Journal: To Save Medicaid, Berwick Says States Should Mimic The Goals Of Reform
Cash-strapped state officials who want to salvage their Medicaid programs should use the national health care reform effort as a template, Medicaid and Medicare chief Donald Berwick said Tuesday. "The answer to Medicaid is the answer for the system as a whole: better health care," Berwick told reporters at the annual policy meeting of America's Health Insurance Plans. "So we're going to work with the states hard to make care for Medicaid beneficiaries as good as can possibly be." By doing so, "states will find that the sustainability of the Medicaid system — and their overall health care system — is going to be better," said Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (DoBias, 3/8).