The Human Cost of Reforming Medicaid

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Established in 1965 to provide basic health care for the truly needy, today Medicaid pays for two out of every three nursing home patients and one out of every three births, and is the leading payer of services for the mentally ill and people with HIV-AIDS. In some states, it now costs more than K-through-12 education. The Bush Administration wants to cut federal funding, and many states want to make drastic cuts that could impact the welfare of one out of every nine people in the US. Can a $300 billion program be reformed to remove what critics call incentives for over-spending or will hundreds of thousands of the very old and the newly born have to go without health care? We hear more about Medicaid reform from healthcare providers and advocates, policy experts and economists. Making News: Bush Seeks Energy Incentives to Cut Need for Foreign Oil Today, for the second time in a week, President Bush is talking energy. At the Small Business Administration, he's expected to announce new initiatives that might eventually bring down energy prices. John Fialka covers energy and the environment for the Wall Street Journal. Reporter's Notebook: Spanish-Speaking America Latinos have become the largest minority in the US, with thriving communities not just in LA, New York and Miami, but in the Midwest, Great Plains and the Deep South. Hector Tobar, the son of Guatemalan immigrants and a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Los Angeles Times, is author of Translation Nation. In it, he argues that this "Latin Republic of the United States" will continue to speak Spanish and to change America for a long time.
Established in 1965 to provide basic health care for the truly needy, today Medicaid pays for two out of every three nursing home patients and one out of every three births, and is the leading payer of services for the mentally ill and people with HIV-AIDS. In some states, it now costs more than K-through-12 education. The Bush Administration wants to cut federal funding, and many states want to make drastic cuts that could impact the welfare of one out of every nine people in the US. Can a $300 billion program be reformed to remove what critics call incentives for over-spending or will hundreds of thousands of the very old and the newly born have to go without health care? We hear more about Medicaid reform from healthcare providers and advocates, policy experts and economists.
  • Making News: Bush Seeks Energy Incentives to Cut Need for Foreign Oil
    Today, for the second time in a week, President Bush is talking energy. At the Small Business Administration, he's expected to announce new initiatives that might eventually bring down energy prices. John Fialka covers energy and the environment for the Wall Street Journal.
  • Reporter's Notebook: Spanish-Speaking America
    Latinos have become the largest minority in the US, with thriving communities not just in LA, New York and Miami, but in the Midwest, Great Plains and the Deep South. Hector Tobar, the son of Guatemalan immigrants and a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Los Angeles Times, is author of Translation Nation. In it, he argues that this "Latin Republic of the United States" will continue to speak Spanish and to change America for a long time.

President Bush discusses energy at National Small Business Conference

Energy Policy Act of 2005

Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services

President Bush on cutting Medicaid funding

Illinois Gov Blagojevich clears path for more federal Medicaid funding

Illinois qualifies for enhanced federal Medicaid funding

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

Missouri Governor Blunt on Medicaid legislation (SB 539)

Missouri Medicaid reform (SB 539)

US Census Bureau

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Warren Olney