While governors in other states (including Florida, Mississippi, New York, and Tennessee) have plans to reform Medicaid and control costs, Gov. Easley has been silent. Instead North Carolina’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Medicaid Reform after two years of study has taken the lead here with plans to…tweak Medicaid.
The most prominent ideas from the group are to reinstate and
make permanent a tax credit for long-term-care insurance and to
eliminate the county share of Medicaid payments over five years. The
rest of their recommendations are to expand coverage, raise
reimbursements, use more case management, and find ways to reduce fraud
and abuse.
As co-chair Rep. Julia Howard resignedly said, “If you
read the charge, I feel we may have gone in the other direction just as
far as we could go.” The report is still a draft, but don’t hold your
breath for any more substantive reforms. Now about those overpayments…
