Sometimes I wonder how Jennifer keeps her head from exploding...
WASHINGTON -- Congress has put Medicaid on the chopping block, and Michigan officials say the result could be devastating for the state's poorest families.
A U.S. House committee will vote today on a proposal to trim federal Medicaid spending by $11 billion over the next five years, a plan that could cost Michigan $280 million annually.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm says the plan, which would prohibit states from using a tax on managed-care organizations to raise money to fund their Medicaid programs, would cause major budget trauma in Michigan and the three other states that already charge the tax -- California, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
"They cannot do this," said Granholm. "They cannot rip the safety net from under children and seniors and pregnant women."
Granholm says it's almost impossible to say where Michigan would get the money to offset a reduction of that size. The most likely option would be to shrink the number of Medicaid beneficiaries by narrowing eligibility for the health insurance program. Michigan has more than 1.4 million people in its $7.5 billion Medicaid program.
"We will not be able to live with those cuts," said Granholm. "There is no place in the budget to find those dollars."
Good luck, Jen. You're going to need it.