Washington Post’s Broder, Minneapolis Star Tribune Respond to Increased Funding for Medicaid
The Senate last week passed a measure that would provide states with $9 billion to help states cover the costs of Medicaid and other social service programs as an amendment to a generic drug bill (S 812), which passed the Senate on July 31. The following are summaries of op-ed, commenting on the Medicaid measure.
- David Broder, Washington Post: Even if the House also passes the amendment to the generic drug bill, "the help comes too late to relieve the immediate budget pressures torturing ... all but a handful of ... states," Washington Post columnist David Broder writes in an opinion piece. State spending on low-income health programs rose 13% last year, and "worse is expected this year," Broder states. In the meantime, he notes, "variations on the same theme" of Medicaid cuts and tax increases are "echoed across the country." Broder concludes, "As much as we need to think about the coming generation -- the retirement costs and health care needs of the baby boomers, for example -- we need to weigh seriously what the country really requires now, and how we are to pay the bills" (Broder, Washington Post, 7/31).
- Minneapolis Star Tribune: Even though the Senate's drug bill, to which the Medicaid funding measure is attached, "faces an uncertain future ... both houses of Congress should find a way to pass" the spending amendment, according to a Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial. The "ingenious bipartisan" measure would address both Medicaid funding and "anxiety ... rippling though Congress" over whether the economy will recover and how to help. The editorial continues, "The scheme works because of the asymmetry between federal and state budgets: Most states have to balance their budgets every year or two, necessitating painful cuts in times of recession, while Washington can run temporary deficits as a way of stimulating the economy." Usually, Congress "take[s] too long to enact [economic stimulus measures] and too long to pump money into the economy," but with this bill, the Medicaid supplement could "be in place by September, and states could start budgeting the money instantly." The editorial concludes that the Medicaid spending measure could be a "godsend" (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7/29).
