Can Medicaid cuts grow jobs?

This week marks the next stage for Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s working group to “reinvent Medicaid.” And although her administration insists long- and short-term changes to the state’s Medicaid system would ultimately benefit the business community, it’s unclear how connected and interested Rhode Island business leaders are to the issue right now.

In February, Raimondo signed an executive order establishing the 27-member group, laying out a challenge for them to reduce Medicaid spending by nearly $91 million in fiscal 2016 and offer ways to restructure the system.

Elizabeth H. Roberts, secretary of the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services, is on a full-court press, attending town hall-like meetings and reaching out to stakeholders in an attempt to win support.

Although her first three public sessions attracted about 300 people, relatively few represented the business community, outside of health care, she said.

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The issue for business, she says, is freeing up money to invest more in job creation.

State Chamber executives, however, have not been hearing a clamor from members on the issue.

Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, met with Roberts last week. Afterward, she compared the increasing cost of Medicaid to Rhode Island’s pension system prior to reform and sweeping cuts in 2011.

“It’s clearly unsustainable just like the pension system, which was clearly out of whack,” White said. “Tax competitiveness, predictability, stability and property tax relief all have levers and presumably [the cost of Medicaid] has a major drag and pull in a lot of those costs.”

Lauren E.I. Slocum, president and CEO of Central Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, says there’s been minimal interest among her members in the working group.

“We need the next few weeks … to shed some light and generate some opinion to further the discussion,” Slocum said.

John C. Gregory, president and CEO of Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the governor’s working group, which was slated to have its first full meeting April 6 since its initial briefing last month.

“People are concerned about the cost of Medicaid but are more focused on the ‘business’ side of this year’s budget,” Gregory said in an email. He added that includes the jobs agenda and “other economic-development initiatives.”

Roberts argues Medicaid is intertwined with all of these other issues because money saved from the system can be spent elsewhere.

“[Businesses] should care because we need to have a well-run and improved health system for the people they employ,” Roberts said. “They want us to do this well, but as businesses that need to pay taxes, they want us to do this in a sustainable way for the taxpayer.” •

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