FYI: The Bush administration has angered state school administrators around the country by introducing new restrictions on what Medicaid claims they can make. Medicaid covers the cost of providing health services to qualifying students with disabilities–as required by federal law–and helps cover clinic costs for low-income students. In new guidelines that the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services says are merely intended to clarify existing rules, and which thus don’t require Congressional approval, the administration has restricted schools from claiming reimbursement for the costs of assessing the needs of students with disabilities and cut by a third the amount they can claim for administrative costs associated with serving those students. Critics charge that the change is part of a larger federal effort to discourage schools from participating in Medicaid by restricting reimbursement claims. [1/24/02]