State Medicaid Costs $17.5 m Less than Expected in FY 2014 - Russell T. Frandsen
Last Updated: July 28, 2014

State General Fund costs for the Medicaid program will be $17.5 million lower than appropriated in FY 2014, according to the Departments of Health and Workforce Services.  The lower state costs occured for the following three reasons:

  • Medicaid Caseload (Department of Health) - $15 million from lower than expected federal health care reform related increases in Medicaid caseloads.
  • Savings From Higher Federal Match Rate for Certain Medicaid Eligibility Systems Maintenance and Operations (Department of Workforce Services) - $1.3 million from the department realizing higher than anticipated workload related to the Medicaid eligibility changes from federal health care reform.  The federal government is providing the State of Utah a 75% rather than a 50% match on these activities. 
  • Affordable Care Act Mandatory Changes (Department of Workforce Services) - $0.2 million from the department spending less on personnel related to handling new Medicaid caseloads due to changes from federal health care reform.