Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Arkansas plans to cut Medicaid funds after election Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 14:38:17 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \HD Arkansas plans to cut Medicaid funds after election \BY Jerry Seper \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Arkansas Lt. Gov. Jim Guy Tucker said yesterday he will meet with state legislative leaders this week to coordinate cuts in the Arkansas Medicaid program after the Nov. 3 presidential election. The state's health care program, which has suffered through a budget crisis for the past several months, faces a $120 million deficit by the end of the fiscal year. State Republican leaders said Gov. Bill Clinton - who has made health care delivery a linchpin of his Democratic presidential candidacy - had hoped to keep the problem under wraps until after the election. State health care officials have been warning for months that a budget crisis was coming. Bush-Quayle campaign officials said yesterday a television ad was forthcoming on the Arkansas budget crisis and the state's problems under Mr. Clinton's governorship. Some Arkansas legislators - both Democrats and Republicans - suggested that tax increases, coupled with program reductions, may be necessary next year to salvage the state's Medicaid program. They said the Arkansas program allocated $15 million more than was budgeted in the past month and predicted that if the trend continues, the deficit will be $120 million by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The Arkansas state budget is $1.928 billion for fiscal 1992. Of that, $332 million is designated for the state Department of Health Services. Federal funds push the state's health care expenditures to about $878 million. Mr. Tucker and other state officials denied yesterday that the proposed cuts were being put off until after the November election to avoid affecting Mr. Clinton's candidacy. They said initial cuts began when the first budget warnings were sounded in late summer and that strategy sessions are now necessary to brief the legislature, which meets in January. "Gov. Clinton and I have discussed Medicaid problems several times and at no time have we ever considered delaying taking any action necessary," Mr. Tucker said in a statement. He serves as acting governor when Mr. Clinton is out of town, which, according to state records, has been about 85 percent of the time since Jan. 1. Sheffield Nelson, chairman of the state GOP, said Mr. Clinton "knows that this poses a real problem for his campaign" since he has highlighted a national health care program as a key part of his 1992 run for the presidency. Mr. Nelson, who is expected to be a Republican gubernatorial candidate in 1994, said Mr. Clinton's leadership in Arkansas in the delivery of health care to the poor and others "has fallen way short of his promises." In August, Mr. Clinton met with state officials in Little Rock in an effort to avert a potentially embarrassing showdown with Arkansas medical professionals and the state's poor over a lack of funding for Medicaid programs and proposed cuts in services. The governor and his key aides were trying to manage a ballooning deficit in state medical funding without resorting to a tax increase. At the time, Arkansas officials were projecting a $22 million shortfall in funds allocated for Medicaid payments in the state. Within a month, that shortfall grew to $43 million. The officials were looking for ways to close the gap until the state legislature meets in January to consider a new budget. They said that at the time they discussed options on how cuts in services should be made but did not talk about tax increases. State health officials declined to elaborate yesterday, saying no decisions would be made until after Mr. Tucker meets with state legislators. Clinton campaign officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment yesterday. In the past, however, Mr. Clinton blamed state budget problems on federal budget cutbacks. In June, the DHS budget was cut $60 million. That translated to staff cutbacks, elimination of some services and a 20 percent cut in what the state paid to providers of many medical services. Some state officials said the cuts were necessary to cover deficits that were created by a Clinton-approved policy within the state DHS to borrow from projected revenues in order to pay current bills. With projected revenues down and the fiscal year coming to a close, state officials said the department was forced to cut back its Medicaid progam. It also began delaying payments to state health care providers. Mr. Tucker, in an effort to offset the projected Medicaid shortfall, borrowed $11.3 million from a state fund set aside by Mr. Clinton for employee merit raises. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM