A dust-up on NC SPIN
Published June 4, 2015
by Carter Wrenn, Talking About Politics, June 3, 2015.
It’s unusual to see a dust up in front of the TV cameras on NC Spin but when Brad Crone said Medicaid spending has been stable for three years the usually soft-spoken John Hood shot back, Brad’s incorrect.
Crone leaned back, told Hood he needed to look at the audit reports that showed Medicaid spending had remained at $3.6 billion for the last three years – and Hood said, That’s ludicrous.
In fact, over the last three years, state Medicaid has spent $3,6, $3.4 and $3.6 billion – so Brad was correct. But John wasn’t entirely incorrect. Instead he was ‘spinning’ – by talking about next year’s state budget (where Medicaid spending is projected to shoot up by $250 million).
So are doctors’ fees rising? Are hospitals charging more? No. The problem’s not pediatricians or surgeons it’s the state legislature.
Two-thirds of the Medicaid spending increase is due to one fact: New people enrolling in the program. And only the legislature can cut enrollment. Doctors can’t. Hospitals can’t. The Governor can’t. But the legislature can and if it practiced a little entitlement reform it could cut the new spending by reducing the number of people who are eligible for Medicaid – but legislators aren’t anxious to tackle that porcupine.
Instead, the Old Bull Mooses in the Senate have proposed to spend $350 million to pay MCOs (Medicaid HMOs) to take over Medicaid but there’s a hitch there too: MCOs can’t cut enrollment either.
June 4, 2015 at 10:51 am
Richard L Bunce says:
I suspect a lot of spinning going on here... there is Medicaid spending and then there is Medicaid spending. So the ball is in John's court although it would be nice if Carter had provided the source for his numbers.
