Missouri is going to get almost 400-million dollars from the federal jobs bill sent to President Obama by the House. But some of that money won’t be spent for a year. Some of the money in the bill is for healthcare, specifically for Medicaid progrms, and for education. State education leaders are waiting to see what kind of strings and guidelines are attached to their $189 million. The state knows $209 million is for Medicaid.
But budget director Linda Luebbering says those funds will not be added to state finances for the fiscal year that started last month. The Governor and the legislature had agreed earlier in this calendar year to tuck that extra Medicaid money aside for the fiscal year that starts a year from now—because the state expects a giant shortfall in program funding for fiscal year 2011-2012. Luebbering says the $209 million will take a bite out of that shortfall estimated by various sources to be between $600 million and one billion dollars.
At the start of the carlendar year the state was looking for 300-milion dollars, not 200 million. She says the new bill starts phasing down the extra Medicaid money the states would be getting—all states, not just Missouri. Regardless, she says, passage of the bill is good news for Missouri.
