No decision on Medicaid funds

An appeal to Congress this week from more than a dozen governors, including Washington’s Chris Gregoire, to approve more money for Medicaid patients appears to have fallen on deaf ears, at least for now.

Gregoire and other governors gathered in Washington, D.C., Wednesday hoping to put pressure on the Senate to raise the federal medical assistance percentages, or FMAP. But the senators headed home for their July Fourth recess without taking another vote on the measure.

They also failed to extend unemployment benefits, which most Republicans said shouldn’t be done without cutting federal spending elsewhere.

The only economic aid they approved was an extension of the homebuyers’ tax credit for those who signed contracts to purchase homes but hadn’t closed the deal.

States will have to wait until mid-July, at the earliest, for any new attempt by Congress to raise federal payments for Medicare and Medicaid patients, which has passed each house in various forms but never both houses in the same form. Without the money, governors said Wednesday their budgets will look even worse than they do right now.

In the case of Washington, the extra $480 million for FMAP equals about 6,400 state jobs, but Gregoire was careful not to threaten to ax that many workers if Congress doesn’t come through.

Gregoire said if there’s no decision before Congress goes on its extended recess Aug. 9, she’ll either call a special session or order across-the-board cuts.