New Panel Will Study Medicaid With Eyes Toward Big Changes

The Bush administration will create an advisory panel to recommend big changes in Medicaid eligibility and benefits and in the financing of the program, administration officials said Wednesday.

By Sept. 1, the panel is to recommend ways to save $10 billion in Medicaid, the federal-state program that insures more than 50 million low-income people.

By ROBERT PEAR
New York Times
Published: May 12, 2005

Medicaid Panel Is Said to Be a Key to a Deal on Budget

Republicans in Congress said Tuesday that they were near agreement with the White House on a proposal to break an impasse over the federal budget by setting up a commission on the future of Medicaid and by cutting the growth of the program by $10 billion over the next five years.

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By ROBERT PEAR and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
New York Times
Published: April 27, 2005

Medicaid loophole for middle class at risk

For years, middle-class seniors have been emptying their bank accounts and signing away their homes so they can qualify for nursing home care under Medicaid — the government’s health program for the poor — when they become frail and ill.

But with Medicaid budgets soaring nationwide, state and federal officials are floating proposals to crack down on these financial arrangements and make seniors pay more for long-term care. Unless changes are made, experts warn, Medicaid will be burdened with huge bills as Baby Boomers age, threatening the program’s ability to serve poor Americans.

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