"Governors worried by healthcare bill costs; Say states could get new Medicaid burden" by Kevin Sack and Robert Pear, New York Times | July 20, 2009
BILOXI, Miss. - The nation’s governors, Democrats as well as Republicans, voiced deep concern yesterday about the shape of the healthcare bill emerging from Congress, fearing that the federal government is about to hand them expensive new Medicaid obligations without providing the money to pay for them.
Yeah, that is how they usually do it.
The role of the states in a restructured healthcare system dominated the summer meeting of the National Governors Association here this weekend - with bipartisan animosity voiced against the Obama administration’s plan during a closed-door luncheon Saturday and in a private meeting yesterday afternoon with the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius.
Is anyone savaging the governors and calling them haters and racists?
Yeah, I thought not.
“I think the governors would all agree that what we don’t want from the federal government is unfunded mandates,’’ said Governor Jim Douglas of Vermont, a Republican who is the group’s incoming chairman. “We can’t have the Congress impose requirements that we are forced to absorb beyond our capacity to do so.’’
The governors’ backlash creates yet another healthcare headache for the Obama administration, which has tried to recruit state leaders to pressure members of Congress to wrap up their fitful negotiations. In its effort to win support for the health plan, the administration dispatched Sebelius - who was governor of Kansas before she joined the cabinet in April - and the federal Medicaid chief, Cindy Mann, to meet here with the governors. Meanwhile, other administration officials spent yesterday pushing the proposal on television talk shows....
Although many governors said significant change was needed, they said their deep-seated fiscal troubles made it a terrible time to shift costs to the states. With the recession draining states of tax revenues even as their Medicaid rolls are surging, the National Governors Association projects that states will face aggregate deficits of $200 billion over the next three years.
Because the states and the federal government share the cost of Medicaid coverage for low-income people, any increase in eligibility levels, benefits, or payments to doctors would impose new costs on the states unless Washington agrees to absorb them entirely.
Yeah, good luck on that last one.
In at least one of several bills circulating in Congress, the states would eventually pick up a share of the new costs, and the governors fear they cannot count on pledges in other bills that they will be held harmless.
It was unclear whether the governors’ association would put together a statement expressing its dismay, at least partly because half of the governors did not attend. Many, including the group’s chairman, Governor Edward G. Rendell, a Pennsylvania Democrat, stayed home to deal with budget crises.
Oh, really? Eddie stayed home, huh?
FLASHBACK:
"Governor Ed Rendell said in ordering a hiring freeze last September, “In the current uncertain economic climate, we must be especially prudent stewards of Pennsylvania’s resources.’’ Since then, Pennsylvania has brought in more than 1,000 new employees, including a fiscal director making $128,000, a press secretary earning $84,000, and seven clerk typists at salaries from $24,000 to $28,000.... --more--"
Yeah, he's a hypocritical, corrupt-as-you-can-be Clintonite!
Some of the group’s most recognizable names - Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Sarah Palin of Alaska, Charlie Crist of Florida, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, David Paterson of New York, Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan, and Mark Sanford of South Carolina - were not here.
Let's see: don't miss him (second item down), do miss her.
But the sentiment among those who were could not have been more consistent, regardless of political party....
And if the GOVERNORS are AGAINST IT.... ?
They are already anticipating large gaps in Medicaid financing after 2010, when stimulus money will no longer be available.
That is not stimulus.
PAYING OFF BILLS is NOT STIMULUS! It CREATES NO JOBS!
And they point out that Medicaid already suffers from low payment rates to healthcare providers, discouraging some doctors and hospitals from accepting beneficiaries. If Medicaid is expanded, states would almost surely have to increase payments to doctors to encourage more of them to participate....
Really, how are they going to keep costs down? Just the volume is going to require more $$$.
Administration officials said they did not see the governors’ concerns as a major impediment to passage of the legislation.
Wow! ARROGANCE and INDIFFERENCE from the "change" president!
Asked about the concerns, Peter R. Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, made two points. First, he said, one of Obama’s overriding goals was to reduce the rate of growth of health costs, and that would benefit states, by relieving pressure on their budgets. In addition, he said, some versions of the legislation, including the House bill, could slightly reduce state spending on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program the next 10 years.
Promise?
Many governors expressed frustration that the prolonged negotiations in Washington had made it difficult to gauge the potential impact on their budgets. “There’s a concern about whether they have fully figured out a revenue stream that would cover the costs, and that if they don’t have all the dollars accounted for, it will fall on the states,’’ said Governor Bill Ritter Jr., a Colorado Democrat....
And well there should be....
One of the proposals considered last week by the Finance Committee would have encouraged states to issue bonds to cover the costs of expanding Medicaid. Governors in both parties revolted, trumpeting their opposition in a conference call last week with Senator Max Baucus, Democrat from Montana who leads the committee.
“There’s strong bipartisan opposition to the idea of the states’ issuing bonds to pay for operational expenses,’’ said Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi, chairman of the Republican Governors Association. “One governor said it’d be like taking out a mortgage to pay the grocery bill.’’
--more--"
Yeah, HERE is WHY: Municipal Bond Milking
