Bruce Leslie, who worked with the White House on per-capita caps as a Senate staffer in 1997 and is now the head of First Focus, said per-person caps are better than block grants, but the policy is unusually difficult to write into law.

FORBES: Why Block-Granting Medicaid Will Result in Better Health Care for the Poor

Ron Wyden (D-OR), who sponsored a Medicare premium support proposal with GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (WI), an approach that is in now the House budget, would only say that he opposes Medicaid block grants and declined to discuss per-person caps.

FORBES: Why Block-Granting Medicaid Will Result in Better Health Care for the Poor

When the then GOP-controlled Congress passed a Medicaid block grant bill, Clinton vetoed it, then proposed per-capita caps as a compromise.

FORBES: Why Block-Granting Medicaid Will Result in Better Health Care for the Poor