[VIEWPOINT] Medicaid Reform

The editors of The Washington Post have released an editorial piece detailing how future spending plans can address Medicaid. They report that Medicaid now accounts for 8.5 percent of all federal spending, and just under a quarter of all state spending. It will reach 3.7 percent of the gross domestic product by 2020

They state:

A health-care program for low-income people should not be first on the chopping block when substantial savings can be had by trimming entitlements that benefit better-off Americans. This is especially true for Medicaid, which provides only modest assistance for many recipients and which, despite its fast aggregate growth, has not recently been growing outrageously on a per-capita basis. Between 2006 and 2010, Medicaid spending per enrollee increased at an annual average rate of 2.7 percent, which was 1.1 percentage pointsslower than health spending generally.

They suggest:

What can be justified are changes that trim costs while making the hideously complex program more transparent and accountable. We refer specifically to reforming the so-called provider taxes that 46 states and the District use to fund increased payment rates to Medicaid providers — and to shift the cost to the federal government.

Interested in learning more about provider taxes? Learn more about it here.