State Health head outlines possible changes to Medicaid programs

The state should curb the cost of the most expensive people on Medicaid by paying flat fees for more elderly and disabled patients and those with diabetes and mental illness, the head of the health department said. To trim $500 million from the state's health care services for the poor over the next two years, Wisconsin should also require more people on Medicaid to pay co-payments and premiums and increase the fees for those who already do, said Dennis Smith, secretary of the Department of Health Services. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 3/23)