Short-changed on Medicaid Spending Projections

WRAL reports Medicaid spending in North Carolina is $150 million over budget in the first quarter of this fiscal year.

The reason for this, the Governor claims, is that over 8000 more people than expected signed up for Medicaid this year while unemployment still remains high and tax revenues are low.

Hmm… so the government missed the mark on Medicaid cost projections?

A major component of the cost saving measures in the health care reform legislation currently making its way through Congress is to limit Medicaid spending at the state level.  The Medicaid program in North Carolina is increasingly dependent on Federal ARRA funds – and predictions are that the state will need to borrow more in the coming years to sustain this level of spending.  Yet supporters of the reform legislation are adamant that cutting Medicaid spending while making the program available to more people is going to somehow solve the cost program … and in fact, lower the deficit?

We continue to see time and time again that when legislators “predict” or “project” on matters of cost – we all end up short-changed.