House report stirs tempest over proposed Medicaid cuts

Medicaid regulations that might be enacted without congressional approval could reduce payments to states by $50 billion over five years – or more than three times what administration officials forecast – according to a report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Medicaid is the No. 1 payer of nursing home services.

Administration officials immediately attacked the report, which was released Monday, calling it incomplete and full of faulty assumptions.

The Oversight Committee’s report used responses from 43 states and the District of Columbia to cast its projections. It criticized what it called a shifting of costs, not greater efficiencies in the proposed changes.

“As the economy tips into recession, the last thing we should be doing is taking federal funds from states, especially funds that are supposed to help people with their health and medical expenses,” said Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA).

A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services termed the report from the Democrat-led committee “not credible.”

“The committee paper fails to provide any reliable information such as the assumptions, expenditure reports, the knowledge of how states will respond and budget forecasts necessary to substantiate any of the numbers contained in the paper,” Jeff Nelligan said.

To see the full report, visit http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1778>.