NATIONAL POLITICS & POLICY | Bush's Budget Proposes $3.3B Cut in Medicaid Family Planning Reimbursement, BNA Reports

NATIONAL POLITICS & POLICY | Bush's Budget Proposes $3.3B Cut in Medicaid Family Planning Reimbursement, BNA Reports
[Feb. 5, 2008]

President Bush's fiscal year 2009 budget proposal would cut an estimated $3.3 billion in federal funding over five years for family planning services under Medicaid, BNA reports. Under Bush's proposal, the federal government would align the match rates with a state's regular medical assistance percentage (BNA, 2/5). Currently, the federal match rate for family planning services is 90%.

The proposed budget includes almost $200 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years, according to Bush administration officials. Some lobbyists said that reductions in Medicaid over five years could total about $17 billion under the proposal; however, the total could be much higher because of regulatory and other actions by the Bush administration (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 2/4).

The Medicaid cuts would "drastically limit the ability of already cash-strapped states to maintain current levels of health insurance coverage, potentially forcing them to increase cost sharing, cut provider payments and/or reduce benefits," Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said in a statement. He added, "The proposed Medicaid cuts include $14.6 billion in cuts as a result of regulatory actions taken by this administration to rewrite program rules that have been unchanged by Congress in more than a decade" (BNA, 2/5).

Bush's proposal also provides $300 million for the Title X family planning program in FY 2009, the same level as FY 2008. The proposal also includes level funding requests for the Title V abstinence-only education program and Adolescent Family Life Act programs. However, Bush proposed a $27.7 million funding increase for HHS' Community-Based Abstinence Education Program, which would bring total funding for the program to $141 million. Bush's abstinence education funding requests total $204 million, the same figure he requested in FY 2008 (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 2/4).