The Pennyslvania Legislature has less than a month to approve a budget for Fiscal Year 2005-2006. But surging growth in the state's Medicaid budget and a dispute over a deal the governor struck with four big insurers may make the June 30 deadline tough to hit.
Unless, that is, the state's elected officials focus less on their own prerogatives and more on the welfare of Medicaid recipients.
According to the Harrisburg bureau of The Associated Press, Pennsylvania's Medicaid program is the fastest-growing item in the state's budget. In the next budget year, it will cost the state $4.5 billion to fund it.
Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed reducing the program by $500 million, in part by cutting the services recipients are eligible for and by trimming reimbursements to providers.