| Abstract: | A Republican plan to renovate the Medicaid program has been proposed in Congress as one component of an overall budget reconciliation act. President Bill Clinton is expected to veto this proposal. The Republicans combined the budget reconciliation with an increase in the Federal debt ceiling. A showdown between Congress and the President is expected by November 6, 1995. If no agreement is reached at that time, the U.S. Government will shut down or default on financial obligations. AIDS activists and health care providers are striving to ensure that the Congressional Medicaid proposal does not pass, as it would devastate health care protection for the indigent, the elderly, and many AIDS patients. Medicaid is the single largest federally-funded health care program for people with AIDS, with over forty percent of people with AIDS relying on Medicaid for their health insurance. Under the Republican plan, Federal funding for State-run Medicaid programs would be at least nineteen percent lower than the amount necessary to cover medical costs; the shortfall ranges from thirty percent in Washington to two percent in Kansas. States would be able to choose the number of beneficiaries that would be covered, the types of services offered, and the source of health care providers. The President's counter-proposal would eliminate projected spending through increased use of managed choice health-care. His plan retains Medicaid as a means-tested entitlement program. |
