In RI, sides line up over governor’s bid to cap Medicaid spending - Providence Journal
10.01.09
PROVIDENCE — With a decision deadline looming, state lawmakers were presented with two very different pictures yesterday of what a first-of-its-kind Medicaid overhaul might mean to one out of every 10 Rhode Islanders.
As he testified before the House Finance Committee, Governor Carcieri said the proposal would give the state more leeway in how it spends its Medicaid money, improve services for the state’s most vulnerable populations and save millions of dollars.
“The core of this is about choices and options for our citizens who are eligible for services,” Carcieri said.
But a top government official in Republican Gov. Lincoln Almond’s administration warned state legislators that the loosely defined proposal would jeopardize the lives of thousands of the elderly, the disabled and the poor, steering hundreds out of nursing homes and potentially reducing medical services to the poor.
“The suggestion that there will be no harm to
Source: Providence Journal, RI