U.S. Says Medicaid Money Was Obtained Improperly

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/politics/12medicaid.html

U.S. Says Medicaid Money Was Obtained Improperly
By ROBERT PEAR

ASHINGTON, April 11 - The Bush administration on Monday named 15 states that it said had used improper accounting techniques to obtain excessive amounts of federal Medicaid money.

Federal officials contend that the 15 states have been "recycling" federal money, rather than using state and local tax revenue to pay their full share of the costs of Medicaid, which provides health insurance to more than 50 million low-income people.

State officials defended their practices, saying that in some cases federal officials had explicitly approved the arrangements. State officials also said that they had repeatedly asked the federal government to clarify the rules. <snip>

The administration said it had concerns about Medicaid-financing mechanisms used by these states: Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.<snip>


Anne Marie Murphy, the Medicaid director in Illinois, said that Cook County contributed more than $1 billion a year to help cover hospital costs for its Medicaid recipients. But she said the arrangement was allowed under a provision added to the federal Medicaid law in 2000, with support from Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois.<snip>

[zbdent]

1. Worked for Enron . . .