The Division of Medical Assistance outlined a range of extra cuts it could be forced to make as it falls short of the $356 million decrease that state budget writers ordered this year.

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.

States have been asking for relief from federal Medicaid mandates for several years as they grapple with difficult budget decisions.

The hospitals argue the state made deep cuts to their reimbursement for budgetary reasons, not out of consideration of what amount was needed to adequately cover the costs of treating Medicaid patients.

When laid-off government workers go back to their jobs Thursday, they immediately will deal with the effects of what's in the budget and borrowing bills signed into law.

Governor Rick Perry signed into law a Republican-backed measure that would eventually allow Texas to enter into a "health care compact" with other states to seek flexibility in operating Medicaid and Medicare.

Three unions have challenged an Arizona budget provision that requires many government workers to make bigger contributions to their retirement benefits while providing employers with corresponding savings.

States went into this budget season facing a combined shortfall of $86 billion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That was despite the fact that tax collections have been climbing for more than a year, reflecting the improving economy as well as about $30 billion of tax increases states enacted in 2009 and 2010.

The bill was sent to Gov. John Kasich, who plans to sign it today, the final day of this fiscal year. It will take effect Friday.

In the wake of a 2012 Supreme Court ruling, states face complex decisions con cerning whether to expand Medicaid coverage as specified in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With the federal government no longer able to coerce expansion, states must base their decisions on subjective value judgments that will vary from state to state, incorporating each state's unique budgetary circumstances, the needs of its uninsured population, and the incentives established by interactions between the ACA's provisions. A first important consideration is that states face substantial near-term Medicaid cost increases irrespective of coverage expansion decisions.

Alternative views on the problem the United States is facing: financing retirement consumption as its population ages.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), signed into law on March 23, 2010, made significant changes to the way eligibility for the Medicaid program will be determined and who the program will cover. State governments will play a key role in implementing many aspects of this reform, which must be in place by the beginning of 2014. States will need to address the financial implications of implementing this Medicaid expansion and accompanying enrollment systems.

State finances are not transparent and often include hidden liabilities as well as rapidly growing responsibilities which are difficult to control.  While state revenues are gradually recovering from the drastic decline of the Great Recession, they are not growing sufficiently to keep pace with the spending required by Medicaid costs, pensions, and other responsibilities and obligations.  This has resulted in persistent and growing structural deficits in many states which threaten their fiscal sustainability.

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

This report outlines Medicaid's current problems, explains how Medicaid is financed, describes and quantifies
the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on state programs, and then offers
policy options for moving forward.

Three Things to Fix Health Care Now:

#1: Reject the Health Insurance Exchange
#2: Don't Expand Medicaid
#3: Offer an Alternative

Supporters of Obamacare claim that expanding Medicaid will entail little to no cost to state governments, since the federal government will fund the vast majority of the additional costs. Indeed, some analyses project states achieving savings from adopting the expansion. However, state lawmakers should be wary of accepting such analyses at face value.

Block-granting Medicaid is the best way to deliver better, cost-effective care to the most vulnerable Americans.

Any serious attempt at state budget reform in North Carolina must include an examination of its Medicaid program. Costs have been soaring, and past cost-containment efforts have proven both insufficient and detrimental to enrollees' access to care. Moreover, Medicaid enrollees are merely passive participants in the program with little or no choices, and at the mercy of the whims of politicians.

The Health Care Compact is an interstate compact - which is really just "an agreement between two or more states that is consented to by Congress" - that would return the authority and the responsibility to regulate health care back to the member states.

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.