State to get $60 million more than expected for Medicaid

Monday, Dec. 23, 2002 | 11:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Just in time for Christmas, the federal government has surprised Gov. Kenny Guinn with $60 million.

In the best news to come out of Nevada's efforts to solve the budget shortfall, the state will get $60 million more than anticipated to pay for Medicaid patients, Guinn said this morning.

Initially it was predicted that the Silver State would be short $200 million for the program that provides medical care to the needy. The governor had predicted the state overall would be short $800 million in the next biennium.

Guinn worked through the weekend with his chief of staff, Marybel Batjer, and the state budget director, Perry Comeaux, examining where to make cuts in the next fiscal year budget and what to retain.

Guinn said that at one point they figured they had the shortfall trimmed to $700 million, but because the revenue outlook keeps changing, he's not confident that the number will hold. Tax collections are not coming in as fast as expected, he said.

The federal government and the state split the cost of the Medicaid program. To calculate the federal contribution, federal officials use a formula that takes into account per-capita income. Because the per-capita income in Nevada is declining, government will raise the percentage it will contribute, officials said.

Guinn said he is relieved to get the additional money, but he's not happy that the per-capita income of Nevadans is going down. he said that also means more people may qualify for Medicaid.

Chuck Duarte, director of the state's Medicaid program, said the federal government averages three years of per-capita income and then weighs it against the national average. This triggered an automatic recalculation for Nevada, he said.

The state was receiving about 50 percent of the cost from the federal government. That rises to 52.39 percent this federal fiscal year that ends next October. It will rise to 54.93 percent starting in October 2003.

It makes Medicaid funding "less of a bear we will have to wrestle with in the Legislature," Duarte said.

And the number of recipients is not rising as fast as predicted, he said. "Enrollment is flattening out."

The 2001 Legislature had authorized $1.5 billion for Medicaid.

The Legislature had predicted enrollment at 125,324 last fiscal year and 133,142 this fiscal year. As of October, the last month reporting, the number of Medicaid patients was 162,301. After 9-11, a number of people who lost their jobs qualified, pushing the numbers above the predictions, officials said.