March
14th
UPDATE – Caseloads forecast adds $301 million to state budget shortfall
Washington’s state budget shortfall swelled to between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion today, thanks to an unexpectedly higher cost for low income people enrolled in Medicaid programs.
That is the upshot of today’s meeting of the Caseload Forecast Council. But the higher costs are not apparently due to higher enrollments in state programs.
A draft report issued during the Caseload Forecast Council’s morning meeting today showed that the number of people getting services in most state programs has been falling or is less than previously forecast. Exceptions are K-12 school enrollments, which are now expected to be a few …