state budget medicare

The State Health Care Spending Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the MacArthur Foundation, released a 50-state study on Medicaid spending and enrollment trends. In 2010, Medicaid covered acute and long-term care services for more than 66 million, or 20 percent, of Americans over the course of the year, making it the largest health insurance program in the United States. Jointly funded by the states and the federal government, states’ spending on Medicaid reached $181 billion in 2012, second only to their spending on primary and secondary education. The report, which highlights variation among the states in Medicaid spending and enrollment, is the first in a series of 50-state studies examining seven key areas of state health care spending: Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, prison health care, and active and retired state government employee health insurance.