States Spending Millions to Administer Medicaid Work Requirements
States deploying work requirements in their Medicaid programs are spending millions of dollars on administrative costs to implement the new rules, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office.
Examining the first five of the nine states that have received waivers from the Trump administration to put work requirements into place, the GAO found they are spending anywhere from $6 million to more than $270 million to implement their programs. And the ultimate price tags may be higher in the end, since not all administrative costs were available.
Much of the cost is related to information technology, the majority of which is paid for by the federal government. For example, Kentucky expects to spend roughly $220 million on IT in 2019 and 2020 as part of its $271 million outlay.
GAO criticized the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for failing to consider the costs of implementation when evaluating state requests for waivers. “[T]he cost of administering demonstrations, including those with work requirements, is not transparent to the public or included in CMS's assessments of whether a demonstration is budget neutral—that is, that federal spending will be no higher under the demonstration than it would have been without it,” GAO said.
The study was requested by Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), critics of the Trump administration’s approval of state-level work requirements for Medicaid recipients.
"This study confirms that the Trump administration is allowing states to waste taxpayer dollars in the pursuit of ideological changes to Medicaid that hurt vulnerable Americans," Wyden and Pallone said in a statement.
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The Navy’s $7 Billion Destroyer Is Now 6 Years Overdue
The U.S. Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyer program has experienced one problem after another, from a failure to maintain power while at sea to a gun that requires munitions so expensive that the Navy has decided not to use it.
Costs for the stealth warship have been rising steadily for more than a decade, and the Navy now estimates that the bill to acquire three ships – a huge reduction from the originally planned fleet of 32 – will come to more than $13.2 billion. And that doesn’t include the roughly $10 billion in development costs that push the overall program price tag north of $23 billion.
Bloomberg’s Anthony Capaccio reports Wednesday that the first ship in the class has been delayed yet again. The USS Zumwalt, which is now estimated to cost $7.8 billion, won’t be fully combat-ready until next year – six years behind schedule, and 10 years after construction began.
“The additional delay in final delivery of the destroyer, designated the DDG-1000, may increase doubts the Navy can build, outfit and deliver vessels on time and within cost targets,” Capaccio says.
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NEWS
Tech Giants Shift Profits to Avoid Taxes. There’s a Plan to Stop Them – New York Times
Trump Struggles to Win Back Iowa Farmers with New Ethanol Plan – The Hill
Drumbeat Builds for a Peace Corps of Caregivers – Kaiser Health News
High Medical Bills Are at Center of Hospital Group’s Trial – New York Times
VIEWS & ANALYSIS
Alice Rivlin: My Final Thoughts on How to Heal Divisions in America – The Hill
What Economists (Including Me) Got Wrong About Globalization – Paul Krugman, Bloomberg
The Rich Really Do Pay Higher Taxes Than You – Michael R. Strain, Bloomberg
Senate Committee Would Underfund Health, Job Training, Education Programs – Jennifer Beltrán, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Why the 'Never Trumpers' Now Love Trump – Ramesh Ponnuru, Bloomberg
The Crash of Austerity Economics – J.W. Mason and Arjun Ayadev, American Prospect
Ban Billionaires? What Progressive Democrats Don’t Understand about the Economy – Cullen Roche, MarketWatch