State Health Care Reform: Federal Requirements Influence State Reforms

GAO discussed its report on states' responses to the growing crisis in health care access, focusing on: (1) states' initiatives to expand accessibility and affordability of the health care system; and (2) needed changes in federal law to facilitate innovative health care reform. GAO noted that: (1) most states have focused on expanding access to health care services, such as mandating universal coverage, targeting specific uninsured groups, or creating high-risk pools for the medically uninsurable; (2) some states have also attempted to control increasing health care costs through changing the methods of reimbursing providers or reducing administrative costs; and (3) federal laws and regulations which restrict states' ability to reform health care, such as those which preempt state authority to regulate self-insured companies and make it difficult to obtain Medicaid waivers, need to be changed if states are to reform health care access effectively.