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Medicaid Budget Set for Michigan House and Senate Action in May Congress Cuts $10 Billion More from State Medicaid Programs “Economic Impact of Health Care in Michigan” Study Set for Release June 3 1.1 Million Uninsured in Michigan, 20 Million Nationwide Editorial: Michigan Needs Jobs? Look to Health Care
Michigan House, Senate Prepare Deep Cuts to Medicaid Patient Care
Additional deep cuts to Medicaid patient care are expected to be approved by committees in the legislature this month, even though Michigan’s Medicaid caseload continues to skyrocket. The Michigan Senate began hearings May 5 on the Fiscal Year 2006 state Medicaid budget. Meantime, the state House late this month is expected to send to the Senate the 2006 Medicaid budget bill with at least $125 million in additional cuts to patient care. Medicaid has been slashed by more than $540 million since 1998 — including nearly $40 million in reductions in the executive order approved by the governor and legislature in late March. Over that same time period, the number of Michigan citizens receiving health care from Medicaid has climbed to a record 1.42 million. Today one in seven Michigan residents depends on Medicaid for their health care. “Michigan can’t afford more cuts to Medicaid,” said MHA President Spencer Johnson. “We are already in a free fall that will result in harm to thousands of Michigan citizens who have no other place to go for their health care.” Johnson said more Medicaid cuts will result in lost Michigan jobs, lost federal funding for Michigan, and higher health care premium costs being shifted to Michigan employers. “Cut, cut, cut is not the solution. It’s simply a bad reaction that is producing human tragedies in Michigan,” Johnson said. “Instead of cutting, the legislature must commit stable and adequate funding to health care over the long term to protect children and the elderly, to protect thousands of good Michigan jobs, and to keep employer health care costs in check.” Congress
Cuts $10 Billion More from State Medicaid Programs
While the Michigan Legislature considers more significant cuts to Medicaid, Congress has passed a 2006 budget resolution that would cut Medicaid funds for states by up to $10 billion over five years. The action by Congress will also likely result in cuts to Medicare over the same time period. The cuts to Medicaid and Medicare come at a time when the nation’s populations are aging, and elderly citizens are accessing health care services more frequently. They also come at a time when Michigan’s Medicaid caseload has skyrocketed to a record 1.42 million citizens. In addition, the cuts further squeeze physicians and hospitals who also must try to care for the 1.1 million Michigan residents who have no health care insurance. New Study on Economic Impact of Health Care in Michigan Set for Release
A new study that measures the economic impact of health care jobs, employers, taxes, funding, and spending in Michigan will be released June 3 at the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce Policy Conference on Mackinac Island. The study includes county-by-county and regionalized data on health care jobs, taxes paid by health care employers and their workers, and overall economic impact. It also examines the significant need for more health care workers in Michigan in the future. More details about the study and its release will be provided to Michigan news reporters and editors late this month. For more information, contact Sherry Mirasola at (517) 323-3443 or Roger Martin at (517) 485-6600. Uninsured Near 1.1 Million in Michigan, 20 Million Nationwide
More than 20 million working U.S. adults are uninsured, according to a report issued in late April by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The report set the stage for Cover the Uninsured Week May 1-8, when more than 1,000 events were held across the nation to raise public awareness about the problems of uninsured Americans. It is estimated that about 1.1 million Michigan citizens have no health care insurance.
Michigan Needs Good Jobs? Look to Health Care
Democracy creates an often unpleasant — although sometimes entertaining, from a spectator sports perspective — conundrum. Republicans and Democrats usually agree that there’s a problem, but they rarely agree on how to solve it. We all agree that Michigan, perhaps more than any other state, is in desperate need of good jobs. Why? Because in recent years we’ve lost so many good jobs — in fact, more than any other state. Michigan’s once dominant manufacturing sector has been the job loss leader. While manufacturing will continue to be supremely important to Michigan’s economy, no longer will it be as mighty as in the past. On June 2, Michigan’s leading employers, state and federal elected officials, and news reporters and editors will gather on Mackinac Island for the 25th annual Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Public Policy Conference. A dominant theme at the conference will be jobs and how to create more of them in Michigan.
At the conference, the Partnership for Michigan’s Health will release a study titled the “Economic Impact of Health Care in Michigan.” I’ll save most of the findings for our formal release of this detailed look at the growing importance of health care as a Michigan employer. However, here’s one nugget from the study: Between now and the middle of the next decade, more than 100,000 new health care jobs will be created in Michigan. These jobs pay well and offer good benefits. Most require highly skilled workers with two-year, four-year and advanced college degrees. These jobs stay in Michigan. They are homegrown and generally are only downsized when government fails to adequately invest in health care. We hope that Republicans and Democrats could agree that these are precisely the types of jobs Michigan should covet. Then comes the hard part: the politicians must agree on public policies and exert leadership as they make policy decisions on behalf of Michigan citizens. |
