Debt deal for states
As we reach the end game in Washington, states still have no idea how a reduction in federal spending will trickle down to their budgets. Stateline.org drills down to the number one concern of governors and state legislators — Medicaid (emphasis mine):
Among the biggest concerns for states was — and remains — the fate of Medicaid, the joint state-federal health insurance program serving more than 60 million poor Americans. That’s because Medicaid is generally the biggest item in state budgets. In the short term, the debt deal appears to spare Medicaid from immediate cuts in federal support. What’s more, Medicaid was specifically exempted from a “trigger” mechanism that would reduce spending automatically if the special congressional committee does not achieve its deficit-reduction goals.
Further:
NYT: States and Cities Brace for Far Less Money From Washington
Reuters: Three reasons conservatives should oppose a balanced budget amendment
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Medicaid moguls
As a nice bookend to state officials’ concerns about Medicaid, the New York Times has an outstanding piece today on the excessive pay for executives who provide care to the developmentally disabled. Medicaid funds these programs with federal and state dollars. All is not well in the public, non-profit sector. From the NYT:
Mr. Castellani, the former Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities official, calls them “Medicaid moguls” — the nonprofit executives who have prospered while providing services to 135,000 developmentally disabled people in New York.
At the top of the class are the executives at the Young Adult Institute. No organization in the field in New York has paid its executives as well. Four of its executives received compensation in excess of $500,000 in 2009; none of its competitors had more than one executive at that level, according to a review by The Times of tax returns of the 100 largest providers.
