State Medicaid budgets face serious cuts, funding battles

New reports highlight plans to cut the Medicaid program in New York, Ohio and Arizona.

The New York Times: In Albany, Battle Lines Are Drawn Over The Budget
Both houses of the State Legislature passed budgets on Tuesday that rejected crucial provisions of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's overhaul of Medicaid and restored hundreds of millions of dollars in proposed cuts to education, drawing sharp battle lines with the governor two weeks before the deadline to pass a spending plan (Kaplan, 3/15).

The Wall Street Journal: Ohio Governor Poses Steep Cuts To Trim Deficit
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, mirroring the moves of other newly elected Republicans, proposed a two-year budget Tuesday that would close an $8 billion gap by selling prisons, reshaping Medicaid and sharply cutting aid to cities (Merrick and Maher, 3/16).

The Arizona Republic: Gov. Brewer's New Medicaid Plan To Cut Few People From Program
Gov. Jan Brewer has issued a new plan to eliminate fewer people from the state's Medicaid rolls by freezing enrollment, requiring patients who remain to pay more for their care and reducing the amount paid to health care providers. Under a 12-part, $500 million proposal released late Tuesday, the state would cut about 120,000 people from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid program, instead of the 280,000 Brewer originally proposed as a move to help close the state's budget shortfall. Rather than the deeper cuts, Brewer offered other sweeping changes, from mandatory copayments to benefit limits, that would save the state millions of additional dollars (Reinhart, 3/16).