There is “no simple answer” for Medicaid funding problems plaguing the states as they grapple with massive budget deficits, the Medicare chief said Thursday afternoon.
With a majority of the states asking the federal government to ease Medicaid requirements, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Don Berwick said his agency is engaged with the states to find funding solutions “while protecting beneficiaries.”
“Everyone in the room knows there’s no simple answer,” Berwick said to the annual conference of the pro-healthcare reform group Families USA. “What we can commit to is a process.”
Earlier this week, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) asked the feds for an exemption from a reform law provision requiring states to maintain their Medicaid eligibility levels until new state-run health insurance exchanges open in 2014. Brewer said the state was seeking to reduce eligibility for about 280,000 individuals.
“Please know that I understand fully the impacts of this rollback and it is with a heavy heart that I make this request,” Brewer wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “However, I am left with no other viable alternative.”
States that fail to maintain the coverage levels set before the reform law was enacted may lose their Medicaid reimbursement. Earlier this month, 33 governors and governors-elect, including Brewer, asked President Obama and congressional leaders to remove the so-called “maintenance of effort” requirement from the reform law.
Berwick said his agency is crafting a set of wide-ranging possibilities to help states avoid massive cuts to the Medicaid rolls.
“We will use all the leverage we have in the law to reach out to them with dollars and tech support,” Berwick said. “We’re here to protect beneficiaries and states.”