The chairman of the Legislative Budget Board John O'Brien told Texas lawmakers that they did not appropriate enough to cover state expenses for Medicaid and other programs. The state is short more than $4.1 billion in the current budget.

Warning about collapse of health care for the poor will come in governor's budget address Wednesday.

The emergency legislation to close a $120 million immediate shortfall at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services needs 101 votes in the House and 24 in the Senate for passage. Those in the know say the Senate will deliver.  The House is where things are less certain.

Lawmakers in Maine reached an early morning deal Wednesday on an alternative budget proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services - a move that likely will send the budget to the House and Senate for votes next week.

The problem in state government continues to be one of income versus expenses, despite last year's major income-tax increase.

An examination of Medicaid spending by state over a decade.  In 2009, the 10 states where per capita spending was highest ranged from 13 to 36 percent higher than the national average, and the 10 states where per capita spending was lowest ranged from 8 to 26 percent below the national average.

The sixth-annual Tennessee Pork Report is chock-full yet again, of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of taxpayer money by state and local government officials. Despite a changing political landscape in Tennessee, wasteful government spending has not disappeared.

This study examines the potential increase in Medicaid costs from ObamaCare for the State of Texas-one of several states that have challenged the validity of the individual health insurance mandate in court. This study constructs Texas' Medicaid spending projections under ObamaCare to reveal the implied increase in that state's Medicaid spending commitments from the new health care law.

The biggest problem with the Medicaid expansion in the Senate health bill is not the "Cornhusker Kickback," but that it leverages an already flawed formula to determine federal payments to state Medicaid programs

Replacing MinnesotaCare with a state subsidy for individually owned private health plans is one of the key parts of the effort to redesign how the state provides health care to the poor. This can save $100 million on childless adults and up to $600 million if everyone is included.

In light of Oregon facing a budget crisis, the Taxpayer Foundation has issued a master list of budget balancing ideas that do not require raising taxes. These ideas have been collected from Oregon lawmakers, think tank groups, taxpayer organizations, unions, policy analysts, Democrats, Republicans and even ideas utilized in states across the nation.

despite constraints that are both political and self-imposed, we believe that it is quite possible to reduce unnecessary and wasteful spending throughout the New Mexico budget. In order to provide a guide for policymakers, the Rio Grande Foundation has compiled a list of specific budget reduction ideas.

Establish limited priorities for Oklahoma’s state government. Once limited priorities are set, everything else should be considered according to these priorities. The state currently has hundreds of agencies, boards, and commissions; it’s no wonder there is chronic overspending and regular “revenue shortfalls.”

Replacing the current federal financing structure of Medicaid with fixed allotments to the states would help save both state and federal budgets. Without this policy change, states will dig further budgetary holes and the federal government will face an increased likelihood of a debt crisis.  If states received a non-fungible Medicaid block grant from the federal government rather than fungible matching funds, each state would have the incentive to reign in Medicaid spending.  If states were freed from the myriad federal mandates (such as the “maintenance of effort” clause of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) they would gain the ability to run Medicaid efficiently.