The federal government has given Rhode Island – and the rest of the country – a budgetary gift. Because of stricter requirements to prove citizenship to qualify for Medicaid to which they are entitled by law.
The state will save $9.3 million as its share of the lost treatment. But this is the classic exploding cigar kind of gift – and the fiscal and health repercussions will be felt down the road.
In a state with a $360 million gap between expenditures and income, it is understandable that some officials are looking at this Medicaid windfall as found money. Unfortunately, the uninsured poor still get sick. They just put off seeking a doctor’s care until the condition is critical. At that point, the cost of treatment is much higher, and the prognosis is much worse.
Much of the burden of treating those patients and covering the costs lies with our community health centers, and they are showing the strain. And inevitably, the added expense will lead to higher premiums for the entire state. Whatever the short-term budgetary benefit, this is decidedly not a good way for the state to “save” money.
Many other states already have been implementing the federally mandated Medicaid changes, and reporting the beneficiary drop-off. Rhode Island could have done more to devise an effective program that meets the federal law but minimizes the burden on the poor.
The failure to do so can be interpreted as either incompetence or cynicism, and neither is acceptable.
