Medicaid and the Current State Fiscal Crisis

Publication Date: January 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

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Abstract:

Medicaid, a health insurance program funded jointly by the federal government and the states, is facing a period of quickly escalating costs at a time when the need (as measured by the number of uninsured) among the population it serves — the low income disabled, families and elderly — is rising. The pressures of quickly rising costs and increasing need are driving legislative attention both at the state and federal levels. Between FY2000 and FY2003, the annual growth rate of federal Medicaid expenditures was 11.3%.