2/19: States consider Medicaid cuts as enrollment grows

New York Times: States consider Medicaid cuts as enrollment grows

Because states are temporarily barred from reducing eligibility, they have been left to cut “optional benefits,” like dental and vision care, and reduce payments to doctors and other health care providers.

In Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue assumed in his budget proposal that the additional federal money would be provided, but that the state would still face a Medicaid imbalance of $608 million, said Dr. Rhonda M. Medows, the commissioner of community health. Mr. Perdue decided it would be unwise to cut optional benefits because that might drive Medicaid patients into expensive emergency rooms. He proposed instead to levy a 1.6 percent tax on hospital and managed care revenues and to cut payments to many providers by nearly 2 percent.

Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee is proposing the largest cuts in the history of TennCare, his state’s Medicaid program. To trim 9 percent of the TennCare budget, he would establish a $10,000 cap on inpatient hospital services for nonpregnant adults and would limit coverage of X-rays, laboratory services and doctor’s office visits.

Concerns about health care costs are likely to dominate the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, which begins Saturday in Washington.

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: Shooting puts spotlight on university tenure process

ARKANSAS: Poultry companies in state accused of polluting sensitive watershed

FLORIDA: Lawmakers scramble to save Florida's space businesses

GEORGIA: Lawmakers take two-week break to tackle $1 billion budget deficit

KENTUCKY: Army plans to blow up stored chemical weapons in Richmond, KY

LOUISIANA: State's per capital debt grows

MISSISSIPPI: State Senate restores budget cuts, Gov. Barbour says he'll veto

NORTH CAROLINA: Charter school debate heats up in NC

SOUTH CAROLINA: State to sue over Yucca Mountain nuclear dump

TENNESSEE: TVA to buy wind power from Iowa

VIRGINIA: State AG files challenge to EPA greenhouse gas regulation

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