Obama says Texas must spend more Medicaid money

The Obama administration will soon order Texas to spend billions more on Medicaid and CHIP apparently disregarding a projected deficit of $18 billion over the next three years. 

The  Dallas News story (below) suggests that the administration will use strong arm tactics to ensure Texas’ budget crisis will worsen and funding for economic developoment, jobs, education and prisons will recieve draconian cuts.

Medicaid and CHIP caseload growth has eclipsed all projections over the past several years.  CHIP caseload has grown almost 100%, while Medicaid roles have grown 70%.  These radical increases in the number of people recieving these benefits has contributed to $50 billion in extra spending.

It seems with this type of coercien, the federal government has found yet another way to slap down any semblance of state rights.

Obama administration says Texas must boost enrollment in CHIP and Medicaid | dallasnews.com

9:55 AM Fri, Sep 03, 2010 Dave Michaels/Reporter/Dallas Morning News

The Obama administration today ballyhooed a new Urban Institute report that suggests a path to enrolling 5 million kids in government-sponsored health insurance who are eligible but not signed up. The report says increasing the number of Texas kids on Medicaid and CHIP is “critical” to reaching this national goal.

A few stats mentioned in the report about Texas:

– Texas, California and Florida account for 38.6 percent of all eligible uninsured children in the country.

– The 74.7 percent of eligible Texas kids participating in the programs is “well below” the national average.

The administration says it will use tools created in the 2009 CHIP reauthorization law to boost enrollment in Texas and other big states. The tools include: outreach and enrollment grants and bonus payments to states that adopt enrollment and retention strategies. It acknowledges that state budget shortfalls will make it harder to convince states to enroll kids in CHIP, which is a joint federal-state program.