West Virginia Officials Search for Solution to Medicaid Budget Deficit

West Virginia officials are working to address the a $187 million budget deficit in the state's Medicaid program for this fiscal year, the Charleston Daily Mail reports. The Medicaid program faces a $47 million loss because of an increase in beneficiaries and costs and a decrease in revenues, and risks losing $140 million in federal matching dollars because of these factors. In 2001, 273,689 West Virginians received Medicaid benefits each month, compared with 298,534 people who received benefits last May. At the same time, state funding for the program is decreasing, particularly because of an ongoing phase-out of a health care provider tax, which means a $11.3 million loss for the program. Further, a 3% across-the-board budget cut imposed by Gov. Bob Wise (D) will cost the program about $10.1 million in state funds. To help trim Medicaid costs, the state Department of Health and Human Resources is working to negotiate discounts with drug companies under a law approved by the state Legislature earlier this year. The law also allows the state to establish a "preferred drug list," which would offer doctors incentives to prescribe Medicaid beneficiaries lower-cost medications on the list. State health officials also are considering ceasing a scheduled increase in the amount of Medicaid funding for nursing homes and "slow[ing] down some payments" to the facilities to "avoid possible cash flow problems" (Tranum, Charleston Daily Mail, 7/29).