Now department officials and N.C. legislators are having a mixed reaction to a decrease in the shortfall. Recent estimates show that the shortfall probably will be closer to $27.6 million.
Health and human services department spokeswoman Lois Nilsen said one of the contributing factors to the disparity in the estimates was that fewer people than expected applied for Medicaid despite a limping economy. "It was previously estimated that we would spend $108 million (this year) and $252.5 million next year," she said.
State legislators recently began work on filling a budget hole that has grown to more than $1 billion for the next fiscal year, which starts June 1.
State agencies have anticipated the cuts and have begun to prepare for budget reductions.
While many welcome the smaller cuts, some officials are decrying the fact that a shortfall still exists -- which means services will have to be cut. "Despite the decrease in the shortfall, we're still behind," Nilsen said. "It just means it looks like Medicaid costs aren't going up."
Rep. David Redwine, D-Brunswick, co-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that while the shortfall is shrinking, the problems associated with Medicaid are not.
"If we don't control the cost of Medicaid, in the next 10 years, 85 cents out of each additional dollar the state takes in will go toward Medicaid," he said.
Redwine said that legislators are not exactly sure why there was such a large disparity between the actual shortfall and its estimation but that members of the appropriations committee were looking into a variety of reasons.
But he added that in actuality, the estimation says one thing. "It just says the people who project numbers overestimated."
