Executive Director Alan Essig Applauds House's Use of Stimulus Funds in FY 2010 Budget, Extremely Concerned about Medicaid Funding

Alan Essig, the executive director of GBPI, commends the Georgia House of Representatives for aggressively and responsibly using federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The House identified and appropriated approximately $1.4 billion in ARRA funds, much of it used to reinstate some budget cuts and avoid deeper ones as Georgia grapples with a $3.1 billion
deficit. The House budget includes $200 million more in ARRA funds than the governor proposed.

Essig's apprehension of the FY 2010 budget, however, concerns whether or not the House adequately addresses the state's projected enrollment growth in Medicaid. A recent statement by the governor states that the Medicaid budget, as passed by the House, has a deficit of $140 to $150 million due to the lack of funding for revised Medicaid enrollment projections authored by the Department of Community Health.

Of even greater concern, Essig asserts, is that the loss of one-time funding used in FY 2010 means the Medicaid budget faces at least a $650 million shortfall in FY 2011. Under-funding Medicaid leaves eligible pregnant women, children, the elderly, and disabled at risk. The Medicaid budget should be fully funded to meet the needs of all eligible Georgians, Essig states.

Essig emphasizes that fully funding medicaid in the current fiscal year and assuring full funding in the future, as well as restoring many cuts to critical public services, such as education and vital programs within the Department of Human Resources, can be accomplished by the General Assembly taking such actions to raise revenues as increasing the cigarette tax and implementing a fee on care management organizations, among others.

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