Alabama’s Medicaid program is expected to receive about $4 billion in federal grants in FY 2013, but according to Don Williamson, the state’s health officer, Alabama will need to appropriate roughly $602 million from its general fund to qualify for all of the federal grants.
Currently, an approved state operating budget for FY 2013 would allocate $400 million from Alabama’s general fund to Medicaid, but that would not be enough to garner the federal grants, according to the report.
Gov. Robert Bentley is “cautiously optimistic” the state legislature will approve the necessary $602 million from the general fund, but if Alabama loses out on the $4 billion in federal grants, it could create a “huge hole” in funding for Alabama hospitals, physicians and the 90,000 Alabama residents that rely on the program, according to the report.
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