​Attempts to cut Medicaid now would be akin to cutting the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a disastrous storm, Tim Westmoreland, a Georgetown University law professor and former director of Medicaid for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said during a Hill briefing Thursday.

“Cutting Medicaid in the middle of a recession is anti-stimulus,” Westmoreland said, adding that the program for the poor and disabled acts as a stimulus for state and local economies.

“It’s exactly the wrong plan at exactly the wrong time,” he said.

With less than two weeks to the congressional super committee’s deadline for submitting a proposal to find $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions to the president, the panel of Medicaid experts was unable to come up with firm suggestions for finding Medicaid savings.

In fact, there was general consensus that there were no low-hanging fruits among the actions the super committee is likely considering in its efforts to squeeze savings from Medicaid.

“If anything,” Westmoreland said, “now is the time to increase FMAP [the federal matching rate for state Medicaid programs].

Like many states, Kansas has introduced managed care to new populations, said Andy Allison, Kansas Medicaid chief.

But DeAnn Friedholm, campaign director for the Consumers Union and a former Medicaid director for Texas, cautioned states’ enthusiasm for taking up managed care in an effort to cut Medicaid spending. She implemented managed care in Texas in the early 1990s with little success, she said. “It’s not a panacea,” she said.
 
Tags: Medicaid, Super Comittee, Deficit Reduction