Fiscal federalism and Medicaid

Over time, Medicaid's growth in the context of other grant reductions has changed the very nature of fiscal federalism. Medicaid is no longer simply a grouping of health insurance programs. It has become the basic fiscal interaction between the states and the federal government. The growth of M...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Spectrum (Lexington, Ky.) Ky.), 2003-04, Vol.76 (2), p.15
Main Author: Miller, Vic
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Federal state relations
Federalism
Fiscal policy
Government grants
Health care expenditures
Health insurance
Medicaid
Revenue sharing
State government
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Summary:Over time, Medicaid's growth in the context of other grant reductions has changed the very nature of fiscal federalism. Medicaid is no longer simply a grouping of health insurance programs. It has become the basic fiscal interaction between the states and the federal government. The growth of Medicaid also means that states are financing a progressively larger share of the joint federal-state enterprise. The country needs a set of automatic fiscal stabilizers for government the same way it has them for the rest of the economy. And it is the federal government, the dominant source of government finance in the US, that needs to act to establish them. Both government and the health care sector that has become so dependent on it will be better financed and better able to serve our country if this issue is appropriately addressed.
ISSN:1067-8530