by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Overlooked in all the news around the election was some sobering budget news for the next governor.

As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Virginia Dept. of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) has forecast that Virginia’s Medicaid costs will increase by $3.2 billion over the next three years. That increase consists of an additional $410 million in the current fiscal year and $2.8 billion in the next two-year budget that Governor Youngkin will present next month.

In addition to the big increase in Medicaid costs, the state is projecting an increase of $964 million needed to support local K-12 education programs. This is the biennial “re-benchmarking” that takes place, which projects what it will cost to continue existing programs at their current levels.

In addition to the additional $3.8 billion that will be needed for the next biennial budget right from the beginning will be the costs and revenue reductions stemming from Trump’s spending and taxing legislation passed this year. Based on past experience, it is safe to say that the analysts in the Dept. of Planning and Budget are working overtime these days to develop the two budget bills, the “caboose” for the current fiscal year and the “big budget bill” for the 2006-2008 biennium, that Youngkin must present to the General Assembly by December 20.

My Soapbox

The Youngkin administration blamed the increase in Medicaid costs on the old Republican standby: waste, fraud, and abuse. They also blame “poor operational performance” by one of the private managed care companies with whom the state contracts to handle most of the Medicaid services.

There is a major problem for the Youngkin administration citing these reasons: they are the ones that have been in charge. A fair question would be: Why has there been waste, fraud, and abuse during your watch and what have you been doing to mitigate it? A DMAS official did say that the agency “has an aggressive plan to address fraud, waste, and abuse. Implementation details are forthcoming.” If there is so much fraud, waste, abuse, one wonders why it took the administration this long to come up with a plan to address it. As Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax), vice-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, noted, “They need to watch their program better.  This is not their first year.”