Health secretary Smith criticizes new fed effort to increase access to health care for the poor

Even as health secretary Dennis Smith is finishing up a round of town hall meetings across the state that he claims will help him come up with ideas for where to cut $500 million from the state’s Medicaid programs over the next two years, it looks like the feds are taking one option off the table. The Obama administration this week is proposing a new rule that would make it much more difficult for states like Wisconsin to cut Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals, and Smith is not pleased. In an interview with the New York Times, Smith described the proposal as “a federal power grab.” (NEW YORK TIMES, 5/4)