On Smith Hill, the heads of state agencies begin briefings on their budgets so far this year and their future spending projections.
The process, known as the Revenue and Caseload Estimating Conference, happens twice a year. Office of Health and Human Services Secretary Elizabeth Roberts says her staff will kick things off with a look at food stamps and other cash assistance, along with state spending on healthcare programs for the poor, the disabled and the elderly.
“I guess the top line is that we continue to see growth in the numbers of people involved in Medicaid,” said Roberts. “Also because of reinventing Medicaid and the other approaches we’ve made to serving people more efficiently, we’re actually seeing almost a flat healthcare cost trend.”
Overall, Roberts says her agency has is running roughly $9.5 million dollars over budget
“Anything that has millions attached is a number we are concerned about but it’s important to note that that’s just about 1 percent of the general revenue budget,” said Roberts
Roberts says Rhode Island’s per patient Medicaid costs are rising by only about 2 percent, compared with 4 to 7 percent nationwide. She says food stamp enrollments have been growing at a slower rate so far this year, but Medicaid continues to grow.
Rhode Island’s Medicaid program currently serves 286,000 families, elderly residents and disabled people. Roberts expects 12,000 more people to join Medicaid in the coming year.
