Governor Mark Warner is showing national leadership as chairman of the National Governors Association in the fight to shed light on the game the Bush administration is playing in the name of federal deficit reduction. Like many other expenditures, the way the Bushies are trying to accomplish their feat is to slough off the payments from the federal government to the states. And the governors, under Warner’s leadership, are calling Bush’s Medicaid plan it what it is.
“I certainly understand the need to balance the federal budget,” said Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a Republican and the vice chairman of the governors association. “But people need to remember that to balance the federal budget off the backs of the poorest people in the country is simply unacceptable. You don’t pull feeding tubes from people. You don’t pull the wheelchair out from under the child with muscular dystrophy.”
… “They tried to cap it the last time around,” said Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio, a Republican. “Then, you’re asking the states to take a risk – what if the caseload grows?” That effort to make major changes in the program collapsed after lengthy negotiations between federal officials and a bipartisan group of governors.
… Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is among several governors battling the Bush administration’s efforts to eliminate a practice some states use to get more federal Medicaid money. The federal government says these states’ practice of transferring money to county governments or local hospitals is a way to get more federal Medicaid money by making it appear that they are spending more on Medicaid than they are.
In Massachusetts, the Bush administration says $580 million in federal Medicaid money obtained using such a practice was an improper grant. Mr. Romney disagrees.
“This was a practice approved by the federal government, and it’s one of the ways that we provide health care to the poor and needy,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, Mr. Romney’s press secretary.
Do you catch a drift here? All three governors above are Republicans. Again, Warner has found a way to let the GOP lead his fight. I’m not sure how he pulls this off, but the way he’s going he could wind up with both the Democratic and the Republican nominations for president in ’08.