About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

HEHS-96-76R 1 (1996-01-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaclbg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: United States GAO General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Health, Education and Human Services Division B-270874 January 23, 1996 The Honorable John D. Dingell Ranking Minority Member Committee on Commerce House of Representatives Dear Mr. Dingell: Because of increasing health care costs over the past decade, states have been searching for new ways to help finance the $140 billion Medicaid program, a jointly funded federal and state entitlement program that provides medical assistance to low-income people. Under the program, the federal government pays states a Medicaid health care expenditures they report to the Department of Health and Human Services' Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). The federal government's share, which is determined by a statutory formula, is at least 50 percent and no more than 83 percent of a state's cost. In fiscal year 1994, federal Medicaid payments accounted for 57 percent of all Medicaid medical expenditures. Beginning in the mid-1980s, states began to use so-called creative financing mechanisms such as provider-specific taxes and voluntary contributions, which were subsequently returned to the providers in the form of increased Medicaid reimbursements. These mechanisms allowed states to increase federal Medicaid contributions they received without effectively increasing their own matching funds. Such actions contributed significantly to Medicaid's annual spending growth of over 25 percent in 1991 and 1992. To restrict the use of these practices, the Congress passed legislation in 1991 that limited the sources of state matching funds. In 1993, the Congress added limits on payments that could be made under the disproportionate GAO/HEHS-96-76R State Medicaid Financing Practices

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most