It is now up to this Administration and this Congress to build on the spirit of the Governors, efforts. Finally, it pays the Medicare premium and cost sharing for low income seniors, which is the only way to make the use of Medicare benefits affordable for these individuals. As part of his balanced budget plan, the President has proposed a carefully designed and balanced approach to Medicaid reform. As I mentioned earlier, NGA recently approved the outlines of its own Medicaid reform plan, which has been helpful to the debate. However, while the details of the NGA plan are still not completely fleshed out, we are concerned that the elements of the NGA resolution do not reflect the priorities set out in the President's Medicaid plan in certain areas.
Eligibility Let's begin with eligibility.
The NGA plan sets out a number of current law groups that states must cover in their plan. However, problems remain in the NGA definition. In addition, the NGA resolution repeals the federal standard for defining disability and replaces it with 50 separate state definitions. This has the effect of making Medicaid coverage and benefits for those with disabilities uncertain and variable around the nation. For example, it would be possible for states to use restricted definitions of disability resulting in very limited coverage for populations whose service needs are pronounced and among the most costly.