KFF report finds Medicaid spending growth slows

Posted on October 25, 2012 | No Comments
Filed under Library, Medicaid and CHIP, Third Party Resources

PDF Version

Details

Library

Implementation Briefs

According to a survey released this morning by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the slowly improving economy helped Medicaid spending growth slow to one of its lowest rates in the last fiscal year (FY). The survey found that total Medicaid spending across states increased only 2 percent in fiscal year 2012. The relatively slow spending and enrollment growth are expected to continue in FY 2013.

Cost pressure and cost containment were dominant themes in the slowed spending growth, but states were also able to consider program changes, payment and delivery system reforms and continue efforts to re-orient long-term care programs to community-based care models. Eligibility rules for Medicaid remained stable due to the maintenance of eligibility (MOE) protections under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and a number of states adopted targeted eligibility expansions or simplified enrollment procedures.

States are also preparing for the new role for Medicaid in the implementation of the ACA. Under the June 2012 Supreme Court ruling, state policy makers can decide whether and when to implement the Medicaid expansion.

The report’s findings are drawn from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) and Health Management Associates (HMA) budget survey of Medicaid officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey collects data regarding trends in Medicaid spending, enrollment and policy initiatives.

Click here for the executive summary.

No Comments

Public comments are closed.

Health Affairs article reports health care spending growth remains low

January 8, 2013

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary reported in a recently published Health Affairs article that national health care spending growth remained at 3.9 percent in 2011 for the third year in a row. Although the national level of health care spending growth remained relatively stable, personal health care spending accelerated from 3.7 percent to 4.1 percent. In addition, Medicaid spending growth slowed, while Medicare, private insurance, and out-of-pocket spending accelerated.

CBO updates Medicare and Medicaid spending projections

August 22, 2012

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released today a new report which found that Medicare and Medicaid spending are expected to grow to a larger share of the nation’s economy over the next decade and the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) insurance subsidies will drive mandatory spending even higher. The report updates CBO's budget and economic outlook. CBO found that found that Medicare spending will grow from 3.7 percent of GDP in 2013 to 4.3 percent by 2022 and that Medicaid spending will increase from 1.7 percent of GDP in 2013 to 2.4 percent in 2022. These new projections account for the Supreme Court's momentous June 28th decision regarding the constitutionality of the ACA. All together, CBO found that Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security would account for 12.2 percent of GDP in 2022, or 55 percent of federal spending.

KCMU and HMA track Medicaid spending, coverage and policy trends in 11th annual report

October 28, 2011

The Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) along with Health Management Associates (HMA) recently published "Moving Ahead Amid Fiscal Challenges: A Look at Medicaid Spending, Coverage and Policy Trends," which summarizes the results from a 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey for State Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012. The report also includes background on the Medicaid program, as well as current issues facing the program including how states are preparing for the implementation of national health reform.

NEJM article discusses how to rein in Medicare/Medicaid spending

May 19, 2011

In her New England Journal of Medicine article, "Hard Choices--Alternatives for Reining in Medicare and Medicaid Spending," Dr. Meredith B. Rosenthal of the Harvard School of Public Health compares and contrasts the two most prominent proposals to reform health care: Paul Ryan's "Roadmap for America's Future" and the White House's Affordable Care Act (ACA). She summarizes the main arguments supporting and opposing the two plans. The beauty of Ryan's plan is that by fixing the federal government's contribution to Medicare and Medicaid to a formula unrelated to the growth of overall health care costs, it would guarantee controlled federal spending growth. However, this would also shift financial risk to beneficiaries and state governments. The ACA alters the landscape for control federal health care spending by creating new institutions intended to facilitate progress toward reform and by directly altering payment formulas for Medicare and Medicaid. The downside of this cost savings portion of the ACA is that implementation of payment and delivery reforms is complex.

A Closer Look at the Medicaid Holding in NFIB v Sebelius: Key Implementation Questions

July 3, 2012

In NFIB v Sebelius the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or the Act). At the same time, the decision adds a new dimension to the implementation of §2001(a) of the Act, which establishes expanded Medicaid eligibility for certain low-income people. This Implementation Brief begins with a discussion of exactly what the Court held in its Medicaid ruling. It then discusses the significance of the majority conclusion, as well as the key implementation questions that arise in the wake of this opinion.

Dual-eligible Medicare/Medicaid Beneficiaries

August 10, 2011

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in 2008 there were an estimated 9.2 million individuals who were eligible for and enrolled in both the Medicare and Medicaid programs (commonly referred to as “dual eligibles”). Two-thirds of dual eligibles qualify because they are over age 65, while the other third qualify because of a disability. Dual-eligible beneficiaries typically have multiple chronic conditions that require a higher level of care and result in increased spending relative to other Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries; however, their care is not usually coordinated. Policymakers have expressed concern that the lack of coordination between the two programs results in higher costs and poorer health outcomes than would be achieved if Medicare and Medicaid services were better integrated.

Bundled Payments – Medicaid Demonstration Project

July 7, 2010

The health reform law requires the Secretary of HHS to establish a Medicaid demonstration project “to evaluate integrated care around a hospitalization.” Specifically, this project aims “to evaluate the use of bundled payments for the provision of integrated care for a Medicaid beneficiary . . . with respect to an episode of care that includes a hospitalization . . . and for concurrent physicians services provided during a hospitalization.”