Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Recent Budget News in Three States
Summaries of recent news articles about the state budgets of Florida, Maine and Massachusetts appear below.
- Florida: Gov. Charlie Crist (R) rejected $90 million in budget cuts included in a $2.6 billion state deficit-reduction package the Legislature recently passed and reinstated funds for some health care programs, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Crist restored $22.8 million in health care services for about 31,000 people with disabilities, medical treatment for about 900 "special needs" children and programs for mental health and drug use treatment (Deslatte, Orlando Sentinel, 1/28).
- Maine: The state Legislature on Tuesday approved a $166 million supplemental budget that includes $34 million in cuts to health care programs, the Capital News Service/Bangor Daily News reports. Under the supplemental spending plan, payments to physicians working in hospitals will be cut by $1.7 million. The budget also includes a provision that prioritizes settlement payments to Maine hospitals for bills they are owed when expected federal Medicaid funds in the economic stimulus bill are distributed (Leary, Capital News Service/Bangor Daily News, 1/28).
- Massachusetts: Gov. Deval Patrick (D) on Wednesday released a $28 billion state budget proposal for fiscal year 2010 that freezes Medicaid reimbursement rates for physicians and hospitals and cuts funding to several public health programs, the Boston Globe reports. The budget also would eliminate a $3.5 million program that helps uninsured residents enroll in health coverage. The budget proposal also would place new levies on alcohol, candy and sweetened beverages to generate an estimated $121.5 million for public health initiatives, according to the administration (Lazar/Smith, Boston Globe, 1/29).
