Governors blast Bush Medicaid cuts, praise call for overhaul

WASHINGTON --The nation's governors met with President Bush at the White House yesterday and criticized the administration's proposed cutbacks in Medicaid, but backed the president's call for an overhaul of the program, which provides healthcare to 50 million poor Americans.

Bush, in his budget submitted to Congress last month, proposed $60 billion in federal funding cuts over 10 years for Medicaid, at a time when the program's costs are rising rapidly. The cost of Medicaid, which states administer, is split between federal and state governments.

During a news conference after the meeting, Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts called Medicaid the ''Pac-Man of the state budget" and said there is ''increasing recognition that this is the time we really need to come to grips with Medicaid costs."

Massachusetts spent $8.2 billion in state and federal funds on about 1 million Medicaid recipients in 2003, and the Commonwealth's contribution for the next fiscal year is expected to near $5 billion.

Across the country, healthcare costs are rising faster than inflation, driving up Medicaid costs and straining state budgets.

Nationwide, the cost of Medicaid rose to more than $300 billion in 2004.

In a draft statement of goals for overhauling Medicaid, the governors called for states to have more leeway to determine eligibility and to prevent fraud, but opposed efforts to use error rates in care given at hospitals ''to measure state performance."

The statement also called on Congress to fund fully any new Medicare mandates foisted on the states and for the federal government to assume complete responsibility for senior citizens who qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly and disabled.

The meeting with Bush took place during the four-day winter gathering of the National Governors Association. The governors also discussed homeland security and the strain the war in Iraq is having on National Guards.

Governors also met with Mike O. Leavitt, US health and human services secretary and a former Utah governor, and contended that Congress was not doing enough to curb Medicaid's exploding costs.

''Governors have to deal with real life," said Governor Tom Vilsack, an Iowa Democrat. ''We don't operate with deficits. We have to solve this problem. We are getting older as a nation, and somebody needs to step up."

Earlier, the National Conference of State Legislatures had warned that the Bush budget would ''export the federal deficit to the states" and force them to restrict eligibility for Medicaid in order to make up for lost dollars from Washington.

During the morning session at the White House, Bush sought to reassure governors that he understood their concerns.

''We want Medicaid to work," he said, ''but we also recognize that the system needs to be reformed, and we want to work with you to do so."

Governors said they did not want Medicaid's federal funding level determined by short-term budget demands.

''Policy should drive the budget number, not vice versa," Vilsack said.

The governors said they could control costs if the federal government gave them more flexibility in administering the program.

Romney was upbeat after the meeting, saying the issue united Democratic and Republican governors. ''You're not seeing a partisan divide on the issue of Medicaid," he said.