Lawmakers criticize medicaid revenue forecast INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Many of the General Assembly’s top budget writers on Tuesday said they’re not sure they can trust new numbers that suggest Medicaid cost-saving measures are working. Measures implemented earlier this year in response to a billion-dollar funding shortfall led to roughly $384 million in reduced expenses to the state’s general revenue fund. That’s about $84 million more than expected, said State Medicaid Director Cora Steinmetz. Those cost-saving measures notably included a waitlist for Medicaid services waivers and eliminating parents’ ability to get reimbursed for providing round-the-clock care to medically fragile children through the attendant care program. Lawmakers on the State Budget Committee said they weren’t convinced. They directed most of their ire toward the Family and Social Services Administration’s outside accounting firm, Milliman, and Jeremy Palmer, a consulting actuary with the company who prepared the Medicaid revenue forecasts last and this year. Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, and Sen. Chris Garten, R-Jeffersonville, demanded to know why Palmer and his team did not anticipate the shortfall earlier and why they did not recommend cost-containment measures sooner. Both lawmakers got into heated exchanges with Palmer over whether the shortfall resulted from an accounting error. “The forecast was wrong, but not erroneous, is that what you’re saying?” DeLaney asked. “I find that fascinating.” “I take exception to the fact that it was an error. It wasn’t an error. It was essentially, we had to understand what was going on, gather more information and the data, and that led us to a different outcome,” Palmer said. DeLaney and Garten both said they don’t trust Palmer’s calculations showing better-than-expected savings. “Outside of government, if somebody made a billion-dollar mistake, you would have been fired and not retained and not rehired,” Garten said. “I’m looking for accountability because this is Hoosier taxpayer money that’s been squandered, as far as I’m concerned.” Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he thinks the state’s Medicaid system is okay financially at this point as long as lawmakers don’t assume the system has any more revenue at its disposal than Palmer estimated it does. He said a new requirement to review the Medicaid systems finances monthly, imposed in response to the shortfall, means the FSSA’s numbers are more accurate than they used to be. “If we start saying we’re not going to rely on any of the forecasts, I mean, that’s going to put us in a bad predicament. I would hope that they learned from their mistake,” Mishler said. Mishler and his House counterpart, Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton, said they would be open to searching for a different firm to handle the FSSA’s finances moving forward. State budget analysts said they expect the state’s overall tax revenue will grow by 4.5 percent during the 2025 budget year, slightly better than previous estimates, and then by another 3.5 percent during the 2026 budget year, which begins July 1. Gov.-elect Mike Braun will be sworn on Jan. 13. State budget officials said they expect Braun’s team will present his budget proposals in the days that follow. The presentation of those proposals will kick off lawmakers’ budget negotiations for the 2025 session.