1. Per person spending is down, especially among
newly eligible childless adults
2. Total spending is up – because we have a lot more
people in the program
3. But that’s OK -- the federal government pays
100% of the costs for newly eligible members (For now. So it’s a very good
thing CT ramped up outreach to get people into the program while the feds are
paying 100% of the costs. Eventually CT will have to pay 10% of the costs of
their care – still a great deal.)
4. Medicaid spending this year is $120 million more
than budgeted
5. But that’s largely
due to one-time, temporary problems that will be fixed, and some overly
optimistic assumptions/aspirations (this happens sometimes, especially in
election years).
The Mirror article also points out how much enrollment has
grown and that populations within Medicaid have very different costs. It’s
critically important for everyone to understand the context of Medicaid
spending as we await the Governor’s budget proposal next week.
