As JFAC wrapped up a full week of budget hearings on health and welfare programs this morning, before moving on to the Veterans Services budget, legislative budget writers quizzed state Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong about the possibility of Medicaid being converted into a block-grant program.

Armstrong noted that the department has operated other programs under a block-grant arrangement. “A block grant is neither good nor bad – it depends on what the terms and conditions are,” he told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. “Yes, we are a partner with the federal government; I’m not sure what that means.” He said it’s not the type of partnership he would have designed himself. “Sometimes it doesn’t seem like we’re given much voice,” he said. “We’re hoping that going forward, we will have more voice, specifically within CMS.” That’s the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services within the federal government, which deals with what states may do with the federal funds..

“The governor went back and gave a speech to a (U.S.) legislative subcommittee on this subject,” Armstrong told the state lawmakers, “and we were very specific that a state like Idaho, who has been very efficient in relation to other states, should not be penalized when there is a change in cost-sharing with other states.”