Medicaid Wake-Up Call

The increase in  Medicaid costs is driven partly by federal rules, partly by the general increase in health care costs, and partly by the policies of the state itself. State policies require large expenditures of state funds so as to attract large amounts of federal matching funds.But because of history, politic and bureaucratic inertia, the state’s Medicaid program is overly decentralized and politicized. It simply lacks the capacity to control costs, let alone meet the requirements of the new federal health reform law.