Stuck in Deficit Mode

Posted by John LaPlante in Maryland, Medicaid on Dec 9th, 2009 | no responses

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StateHouseCall contributor Marc Kilmer recently wrote about the state budget troubles afflicting Maryland. In short, it recently had a budget deficit, raised taxes, and will have to expand its Medicaid program should federal health “reforms” go through.

He concludes

If our legislators decided to try and cut the budget, another provision in the federal legislation mandates that states cannot reduce Medicaid eligibility or services. That would put 17 percent of the state’s budget off-limits during efforts to close a deficit.

Couple that with the political and legal impracticality of cutting education spending and there is not much left in the budget to trim. You don’t need to be a psychic to see new taxes for Marylanders in the future.

I’m not sure how much of Maryland’s budget is taken up in education, but it’s got to be either the #1 or #2 item in the state budget. Both education and health care are rife with inefficiencies and, not coincidentally, both bear the heavy imprint of politics and government participation (health care) if not outright control (education). Having such qualities in the state’s two largest budget items doesn’t bode well for the economic climate of any state.

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