NAPH’s Bruce Siegel Warns of Risks to Medicaid - June 21, 2011

From June 13 to June 15, the National Medicaid Congress held a conference centered on health reform implementation issues. Held in Washington, D.C. and sponsored by health policy organizations and private health groups, the conference brought together representatives from federal and state government, academia, health plans, local public health, and the provider community to discuss the policy issues facing Medicaid today. NAPH CEO Bruce Siegel, MD, was invited to give a report on the safety net and the challenges that Medicaid is facing. Siegel remarked that the current fiscal concerns have shifted focus from the promises of health reform legislation to undermining the foundations that the Medicaid expansion would be based upon with discussions of cuts to the Medicaid program. Siegel warned that proposals at the federal and state levels threaten the long-term viability of the Medicaid program. He also noted that repealing “maintenance-of-effort” requirements would only worsen the current threat to the future of the Medicaid program. Though the threat is worrisome, Siegel cited a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll that found more than half of all Americans are opposed to cuts in Medicaid as good news. These results indicate that the Medicaid program is touching more American lives and that this program is vital to Americans’ overall well being.