Governor Rick Perry issued the following statement in regards to the Medicaid opt-out report:
“The current Medicaid system is financially unsustainable for states and the federal government, as costs increase about nine percent per year in Texas alone. Without greater flexibility and the elimination of federal strings, Medicaid will strangle state budgets and taxpayers as Obamacare and other programs expand Medicaid rolls.
“Texas, the states and the federal government would be much better served by increasing flexibility and innovation in Medicaid, even block granting funds to the states, so we can tailor Medicaid dollars to best serve the needs of Texas patients, families and taxpayers. I have discussed these issues with other governors and policy experts, and will be working on ways to improve the utilization of Medicaid dollars in Texas.”
Health and Humans Services Commissioner Tom Suehs told the Tribune in an interview:
“You can’t sustain the growth rate of the Medicaid program with the current restrictions and parameters.” He said all the talk about opting out should really be talk about reinventing Medicaid — changing the fundamentals of the system to give states more flexibility.
For the full Tribune article: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-state-agencies/health-and-human-services-commission/suehs-texas-must-change-not-abandon-medicaid/
As published in our Friday HillCo Client News Flash a joint report to lawmakers was published on Friday which summarized the current Medicaid program, its fiscal cost to Texas and the impact to the state if Medicaid were eliminated. “Without significant reform at the federal level, states are left facing a no-win dilemma. Opting out of Medicaid means giving up federal tax dollars paid by the state’s residents to provide health care for our most vulnerable residents. Staying in the program forces states to pay for a federally-mandated expansion of Medicaid with little control over the program’s ever-rising costs, exacerbating an already unsound financial situation,” according to the report.
A copy of the report on the Texas Tribune website: http://static.texastribune.org/media/documents/Impact_on_Texas_if_Medicaid_is_Eliminated.pdf