Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Clinton leads a group of vocal, displeased Dems.

If the hard part was deciding whether to cut Medicaid, the really hard part will be determining how to alter the program to accommodate its new constraints.

The House and Senate barely passed 2006's budget on April 28. Heated debates over proposed Medicaid cuts caused a close final vote, in which Democrats dominated the opposing votes.

The budget agreement will cut $10 billion from Medicaid funding over four years, beginning in 2007, with cuts expected to hit skilled nursing facilities the hardest. Democrats harshly criticized the budget's treatment of Medicaid.

The massive cuts will undermine Medicaid and are a prescription for disaster for states, local governments, health care providers and those who depend on the program as their only means of health care coverage, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) said in a statement.

Long-term care spending could double by 2040, according to a recent Government Accountability Office study, which warned that because Medicaid is the largest funding source for LTC services, the increase in demand will put a huge strain on federal and state governments.

Before the vote, 43 Democratic and Republican representatives in an April 21 letter pleaded with Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt not to follow through on its proposal to cut skilled nursing care funding.

Slashing Medicaid funding won't address its challenges, Clinton charged. "It is unconscionable to balance the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable Americans, and that is exactly what the White House and Congressional Republicans have decided to do," she said.

DeLay: Waste Needed To Be Cut

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) defended the budget cuts to Medicaid, saying that now is the time to look closely at antiquated benefit programs that are popular but rife with waste, reports the Associated Press.

As part of the budget agreement, Congress passed a proposal to establish a presidentially appointed bipartisan commission to investigate Medicaid funding concerns. The commission will issue a report in September, offering a list of recommended Medicaid reforms.