Quotes of note

Healthcare Financial Management, June, 2005

"By using complex, creative financing schemes, states have inappropriately increased the federal share of Medicaid expenditures"

--Kathryn G. Allen, director of Medicaid issues at the U.S. General Accountability Office, describing alleged accounting "gimmickry" being used by states to improperly increase their share of Medicaid federal financial participation

"It's garbage. I would love for someone to talk about how frequently the federal government shifts costs to states like Alabama, which has a horrific number of people under the poverty level."

--Carol A. Herrmann, the Medicaid director in Alabama, responding to the GAO criticism of state Medicaid accounting practices

"County hospitals send us local public funds; we match it with federal Medicaid funds and send it back to the local hospitals. That's not recycling."

--Mark D. Trail, director of the Georgia Medicaid program, saying he saw nothing wrong with the way his state financed care for poor people

"I'd be surprised if senators didn't offer amendments changing Medicare."

--Sen. Max Baucus (Montana), ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, suggesting that cuts, similar to Medicaid, in Medicare reimbursement will be on the table this year