States Spend More on Medicaid Than Elementary and Secondary Education Combined, Study Says
States now spend more on health care for the poor than they do on
elementary and secondary education, a policy group said in its annual
review of efforts to deal with the growing problem of the uninsured. The
states spent 21.9% of their revenue on Medicaid in fiscal year 2004.
Elementary and second education consumed about 21.5% of states' budgets.
Higher education came in at a distant third, 10.5%. "Today, Medicaid
accounts for the largest and fastest growing category of state
expenditures," said the State Coverage Initiatives program, which
provides technical support to help states broaden health insurance coverage. The
increase in Medicaid costs for the states stems from the continued
decline in employer-sponsored health insurance, the report said. Medicaid
generally covers children who lost access to employer-sponsored
coverage, but those programs often don't cover adults who have lost such coverage.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-19-medicaid_x.htm
Posted 1/30/06
