Former HHS sec'y Thompson tackles Medicaid

Former Bush HHS secretary Tommy Thompson, now a consultant, plans to release a white paper tomorrow addressing chronic problems with Medicaid. Specifically, he plans to recommend that the federal government take over long-term care for the elderly--a service that leads many otherwise law-abiding citizens to try to game Medicaid by monkeying with their assets to appear poor--and leave the states to handle acute care for the under-65 group, especially children. He'll also advocate making Medicaid patients take greater responsibility for their care, and making the whole system more efficient through the use of electronic medical records. Because of his former post, CMS takes him seriously and is reviewing his proposals. Meanwhile, states, too, are considering Medicaid reforms.

For more background on Thompson's efforts:
- read this story in the Washington Post