Republicans in Congress are concerned that loopholes in the way stimulus funding for states to use on Medicaid is administered will limit its use in aiding assisted living facilities and other senior-friendly projects.
Congreesman Darrell Issa noted instances in eight states, including New York and Michigan, where funds designed to increase Medicaid benefits are instead going to fuel increases in funding for education or reduce budget deficits because the Center of Medicare and Medicaid " will not consider the diversion of state dollars that would have otherwise been spent on Medicaid to other funds as a prohibited use of funds."
While the monies are being used to pay Medicaid bills, the states don’t plan to increase the Medicaid budget overall.
The issue, he writes, is that "the net increase in Medicaid budgets will not reflect the previous state and federal funding of Medicaid plus the taxpayer investment of $87 billion."
Most recently, the Associated Press has reported that there is a fight among South Carolina lawmakers over whether or not to take stimulus money, with Republican governor Mark Sanford dissenting from a plan that would use nearly $600 million in Medicaid funds to help offset budget cuts in the state’s school system.
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