Welfare Reform As A Model For Medicaid Reform

Mary Katherine Stout says Welfare Reform should be a model for Medicaid reform:

states are desperate for Medicaid reform to control costs and rid the program of rigid federal requirements. The path for achieving these reforms is clear: end the entitlement and give states greater flexibility.

Welfare reform changed the way federal funding came to the state by giving the state a fixed amount of money to run their program, and providing bonuses to states achieving high performance. Medicaid reform should take the same approach by prioritizing spending, and establishing broad goals for performance. States must have significant authority to tailor the program to fit their needs, and wide latitude to better align Medicaid with other government assistance programs. This includes the ability to make benefits contingent upon meeting requirements similar to other welfare programs.

Maybe this will start some sort of real debate.Texas Public Policy Foundation