Westmoreland, Scully Debate Medicaid Flexibility Initiative at Alliance for Health Reform Briefing

Tim Westmoreland, former Clinton administration Medicaid and CHIP program director, and current Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Thomas Scully debated the Bush administration's Medicaid flexibility proposal yesterday at an Alliance for Health Reform briefing, NPR's "Morning Edition" reports (Silberner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 8/29). In early August, administration officials announced that CMS would give states more flexibility to design Medicaid benefit packages, including trimming services for "optional" beneficiaries in order to expand coverage to more people (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/6). But Westmoreland said the new approach could "hurt the poor," adding, "In my mind, that is, at best, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and at worst, robbing Peter in the name of Paul and keeping the money for other purposes." Scully responded that he will not allow states to divert the money gained from trimming benefits. He said, "I'm running the program. The states have to reinvest the money. We are not interested in saving money, period" ("Morning Edition," NPR, 8/29). Excerpts from this exchange, along with a HealthCast of the full briefing, are available online at kaisernetwork.org.