Medicaid’s budget cuts

Associated Press
Published: September 6, 2008

The state Department of Health and Human Services plans to cut Medicaid reimbursements to health care providers starting next month to make up for a 3 percent cut in its budget.

All state agencies are having to make cuts to make up for an estimated shortfall in tax collections.

Health and Human Services spokesman Jeff Stensland tells The Greenville News that the department needs to save $28.5 million and provider rate cuts have the most immediate impact on the budget.

But some doctors say cuts in payments could mean fewer doctors accepting Medicaid patients.

The president of the South Carolina Medical Association says just 53 percent the state’s doctors take Medicaid patients, down from 60 percent five years ago.