Gov. Rendell Defends Pennsylvania's Management Of Medicaid

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- Bolstered by a new federal report, Governor Ed Rendell is lashing out at critics of his administration's management of Pennsylvania's Medicaid program.

The governor says a new analysis by the federal Department of Health and Human Services found that Pennsylvania's Medicaid error rate in 2009 was 4.7 percent, less than half the national average.

And Rendell says that when it comes to determining eligibility for Medicaid, the federal report found the state's 2009 error rate was just under two percent, compared to a national average of 7.6 percent, and far less than the 14.1 percent the state auditor general found in cases he studied between January 2005 and March 2008.

"The rhetoric that goes on in this building doesn't match the facts," the governor said on Monday.  "And the facts are given to us by the Bush administration and the Obama administration. And it's just rhetoric because this is a convenient whipping boy."

Rendell says politicians need to stop "demonizing" the Department of Public Welfare, which administers the Medicaid program.

Reported by KYW Harrisburg Bureau Chief Tony Romeo.