Massachusetts will continue getting $385 million from Medicaid

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on a roll.... a little cog in the $trillion scam. Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Massachusetts will continue getting $385 million from Medicaid By Liz

Kowalczyk and Scott Helman

GLOBE STAFF

 

The state's landmark health insurance law passed an important hurdle today, with

the announcement that the federal government has agreed to continue providing

Massachusetts $385 million in annual Medicaid money for the next two years.

State officials have said that the money, needed to subsidize insurance

coverage for low-income residents, is crucial to carrying out the ambitious new

health care plan, but the funding was considered at risk earlier this year

because Massachusetts did not finalize the law until April. Medicaid officials

had indicated that they needed the law in place far earlier, to make sure it

satisfied key federal criteria.

 

The agreement is known as a Medicaid waiver. State officials said the waiver

also includes $225 million annually in new money to expand specific Medicaid

programs to the poor.

 

The new health care plan seeks to insure nearly all Massachusetts residents over

the next several years through a combination of subsidized and low-cost health

insurance plans, expansion of Medicaid coverage for adults and children,

incentives for businesses to cover workers, and a requirement that everyone have

some form of coverage.

 

" It means that Massachusetts is now at the forefront of a revolution in the way

we think about health care, " Governor Mitt Romney said at a news conference

attended by Michael Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services. " The reforms we crafted bring coverage to all our citizens,

without a government takeover of health care, and without the need to raise

taxes. "

 

The law gradually shifts a portion of Medicaid money from payments to hospitals

that serve the poor -- primarily Boston Medical Center and Cambridge Hospital --

to using that money to insure poor residents, a change pushed by the federal

government. Most immediately, the approval of the waiver will allow the state to

increase enrollment in the state-federal Medicaid program for long-term

unemployed adults.

" We're pleased,'' said Brian Rossman of Health Care for All, a Boston-based

consumer advocacy group. " They will lift the cap in the next day or two and

10,000 people will get immediate health insurance coverage.''

Senator Edward Kennedy, who worked closely with state leaders on the new

health plan, said in a statement: " Final approval of the waiver not only allows

Massachusetts to keep the Medicaid funds, but also allows us to move forward

with health reform. Instead of facing health care cuts, we're well on our way to

achieving our long-standing goal of health care for all. "

Leavitt said that " every component of our society'' needs to contribute to

giving all Americans access to " affordable, basic health care,'' and added that,

" Yes, employers need to contribute where reasonable.''

He praised the Massachusetts program as " an important national model, " but he

also warned that implementation of the insurance program could create unexpected

problems.

" None of us should expect perfection here, " Leavitt said. " Mistakes are going

to be made. Lessons are going to be learned. They'll be learned by lots of

people, and we'll get better at this. But this is an important moment, and not

just today in the state of Massachusetts, but also across the country. "

Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 06:20 PM

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