GOP budget plan would transform Medicaid, Medicare

The 10-year federal budget plan released this week by House Republicans, if enacted, would lead to dramatic changes to both Medicaid and Medicare (Source: “GOP revamp would alter Medicaid,” Columbus Dispatch, April 6, 2011).

Among the proposals in the plan (pdf, 73 pages), unveiled yesterday by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is one to transform Medicaid into a block grant that state could use to create their own model for the program, effectively ending federal requirement for coverage and eligibility.

Kasich Administration officials said they are cautiously optimistic about the proposed Medicaid block grants, which would be indexed to the rates of inflation and population growth.

"We haven't seen the details yet, but we're very interested in the flexibility it could provide," said Erik Poklar, a spokesman for the governor's office of health transformation.