Congress Should Ensure State Medicaid, SCHIP Programs Have Adequate Funding During Economic Downturn, Editorial States

"The troubled economy could soon create a major fiscal crisis for the state-run Medicaid and children's health programs that would only be exacerbated by the Bush administration's efforts to cut these programs back," a New York Times editorial states. The Times notes that a new analysis, from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and Uninsured, conducted by the Urban Institute, projected that each percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate will increase Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment by one million people, and an additional 1.1 million would become uninsured as they lose employer-sponsored coverage.

As a result of the current "economic downturn," many states "will have little choice but to shrink their Medicaid and children's health programs," the Times writes, adding that at least 13 states already have proposed reductions in the programs. According to the Times, the federal government provided states with $20 billion in fiscal relief during the last economic downturn, including $10 billion in increased matching funds for Medicaid. "But this time, the Bush administration has imposed new rules that would impede expansion of the children's health program and new regulations that would reduce federal funding for Medicaid by anywhere from $14 billion (the administration's estimate) to $50 billion (the states' estimate) over the next five years," the Times writes.

The editorial states, "This is a terrible time to reduce funding for safety-net programs," adding, "Congress needs to place a moratorium on the Medicaid regulations by a veto-proof margin and find a way to overturn the children's health rules," and it "should restructure Medicaid and children's health programs so that federal financing increases during bad economic times -- when people most need their government's help" (New York Times, 5/1).