Medicaid Demands Push States Off ‘Cliff’ as Governors Seek Deep Cuts

Wednesday, 22 Dec 2010 02:29 PM

Washington State may not pay for glasses anymore. Massachusetts already chopped dentures. As of Oct. 1, North Carolina no longer covers surgery for the clinically obese.

Governors nationwide are taking a scalpel to Medicaid, the jointly run state and federal healthcare program for 48 million poor Americans, half of whom are children. The single biggest expense for states, Medicaid consumes about 22 percent of their total $1.6 trillion in expenditures, more than what is allocated to elementary and secondary education, according to a National Governors Association report.

With federal stimulus funds to help states pay higher Medicaid costs running out June 30, “we’re heading for a cliff in July,â€