A recent survey released that Medicaid programs could face a revenue shortage and provider reimbursement in fiscal year 2011 after federal stimulus dries up.

Programs run by the state saw bigger than better jumps in enrollment and spending during the fiscal 2009 but funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped ease out the load, as per a study by the Kaiser family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.

Medicaid is a state-federal program covering health care for those who are needy, elderly or people with disabilities.

Medicaid programs might need to re-evaluate the previously unthinkable eligibility and benefit reductions, as per the results of a study. The federal will be releasing $87 billion to states through the stimulus funding but it ends Dec. 31, 2010.

The state of Nevada is expecting a revenue shortfall of $240 million when the federal funding ends and it may consider changes to eligibility program said Charles Duarte of the state's Department of Health and Human Sciences.

He said that the state might need to cut down on reimbursement to providers, which could lead to fewer doctors accepting Medicaid.

The recession caused the Medicaid enrollment to shoot up by 5.4 percent on average fiscal 2009, the highest rate of increase in six years. Simultaneously the spending growth on the programs averaged nearly 8 percent which is the highest in five years.

Although economists say that recession is fading, the growth trends are expected to continue into fiscal 2010. Experts also added that state revenues take longer to recover from a recession. Medicaid enrollment gains are expected to linger on for two more years.