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Virginia could face deep cuts if Congress doesn't approve more Medicaid funding Date published: 6/14/2010
BY CHELYEN DAVIS The U.S. Senate is expected to vote soon on federal Medicaid funding that will impact health services in Virginia. The two-year budget approved earlier this year by state lawmakers depends on that federal Medicaid funding--about $430 million for Virginia--to mitigate cuts to Medicaid services. If Congress doesn't approve the funding, many health services for elderly and disabled people will see steeper cuts than health organizations had hoped for. In writing the budget this year, state lawmakers had to make about $4 billion in reductions to spending, and early versions of the budget made deep cuts to many Medicaid services including physician reimbursements, waiver services for the To try to ease the pain of such cuts, budget writers decided to go ahead and write into the budget the federal money (called Federal Medicaid Percentage Assistance, or "FMAP" money in legislative parlance) even though it hadn't yet been approved by Congress. The total for the FMAP funding is $24 billion. If it isn't passed, states' actions to compensate for the loss and balance their budgets could cost 900,000 jobs across at least 34 states, according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. They expected Congress to approve the money, but the cost of extending FMAP funding earned it opponents, and the House of Representatives did not approve it. Now it's the Senate's turn to vote on a bill that includes the FMAP funding, along with extensions of benefits for unemployed people and other issues. The Senate is expected to vote on it this week, and advocacy groups for the disabled and others who would be hurt if the money isn't approved have been lobbying senators for support. The ARC of Virginia, which lobbied heavily against cuts to services, has urged its members to call both of Virginia's senators and urge them to vote for the FMAP extension. Sen. Mark Warner's office has been getting calls, said spokesman Kevin Hall. "He's fully aware of the potential impact back home if this doesn't pass," Hall said. The FMAP extension covers two quarters, but Virginia's budget spreads it out over both 2011 and 2012. That means that if Congress doesn't approve the FMAP money by July 1, when the 2011 fiscal year begins, the cuts would kick in.
I think we should close them if they are in need of repair. All the federal workers will move move back to Maryland...look how much money we don't have we'll save then..
Haven't we learned ANYTHING from the Warner and Kaine administrations? Stop counting on and spending money that you DON'T HAVE. How many more state employees who bust their butts are going to lose their jobs now? How many more furlough days? Are the roads ever going to get fixed???
since it is ours to start with. Let's just make sure the commonwealth doesn't raise taxes anyhow. I hate double dippers.
show up either,, no?
Why would the VA Gov take the Medicaid money and all its strings but not take education money? Could it be because those folks vote and children don't.
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