No Medicaid cuts in Snyder budget proposal

With every state agency anticipating deep cuts to their budget, Gov. Rick Snyder had some good news for Michigan’s most vulnerable residents Monday when he said there would be no cuts to Medicaid reimbursement rates in the budget proposals he will announce on Thursday.

Gov. Rick Snyder said today he will not cut Medicaid reimbursement rates in the budget he will unveil Thursday.

“That was a line I drew in the sand,” because “we have people suffering in our state,” Snyder said in a luncheon speech at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

“We will cut other things first.”

Snyder noted some other states have tried to reduce the huge cost of paying the state share of the federal Medicaid program by reducing how much doctors are paid for treating patients on Medicaid. But he said he believes that’s “not the right way to operate” and government must play an “important safety net” role.

Cuts to reimbursement rates pushes more and more doctors to not accept Medicaid patients, making health care less available at a time when a record number of Michigan residents — 1.8 million in total — rely on Medicaid for their medical care.