Health and Poverty News
“Despite expressing distaste for the new law, some GOP governors have endorsed an expansion of Medicaid, and three — Jan Brewer of Arizona, John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Snyder of Michigan — are trying to persuade their Republican-controlled legislatures to go along. The governors are unwilling to turn down Washington’s offer to spend millions, if not billions, in their states to add people to the state-federal program for the poor. But they face staunch opposition from many GOP legislators who oppose the health-care law and worry that their states will be stuck with the cost of adding Medicaid recipients.”
“Lawmakers are scrambling to put forth alternative Medicaid expansion proposals after tossing aside Gov. John Kasich’s plan just weeks ago. But it’s unclear whether any of the new bills will clear the substantial hurdles: satisfy key business groups, gain federal approval, appease anti-Obamacare conservatives and win over a majority vote in both the House and Senate.”
“From nearly every perspective that you can view Medicaid expansion, it’s a good deal for Wisconsin. As the Joint Finance Committee of the Legislature finishes up its work on the 2013-15 state budget bill this week, it’s worth stressing that point again.”
“Tennessee has nearly 1 million uninsured residents, of whom at least 140,000 and maybe more than twice that number, by some estimates, likely would enroll in Medicaid if it were expanded under the ACA guidelines. About three-quarters would have been previously uninsured. Under the ACA expansion, the federal government would pick up the entire cost of new, previously ineligible enrollees for the first three years, phasing to 90 percent by 2020. In Tennessee, federal funds would have amounted to about $1.4 billion in the first year alone.”
“Medicaid expansion under the ACA allows states to extend coverage to individuals with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — about $15,000 for an individual and $32,000 for a family of four. In our state, nearly 1,700 veterans and spouses are at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, and would be eligible for Medicaid coverage if Wisconsin chooses expansion.”
“Much implementation of the Affordable Care Act has moved from Washington to state capitals and is now trickling out into communities, where local organizations are being tapped to realize the ultimate goal: Get people health insurance. It will not be easy. Many people do not understand what the law does or that its major components kick in come January. Add in California's diverse population - including low-income residents and those who do not speak English - and the challenge grows.”
“Unlike Medicare, which is limited in scope and funded by payroll taxes and premiums, Medicaid is a fiscal and bureaucratic train wreck. Judging from my experience managing the system in two states for nearly 15 years, I can attest that Medicaid is a monstrosity that has exploded beyond actual need, covering more Americans than Medicare, and even more Americans living above the poverty line than below it. Moreover, its expanding caseload gobbles nearly a quarter of state budgets — more than a third in Missouri and Pennsylvania — crimping investments in education, research and infrastructure.”
“Ohio is among the states still undecided about expansion, which would extend Medicaid coverage to about 366,000 residents earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $32,000 annually for a family of four. The federal government would pay the full cost of expansion for the first three years and at least 90 percent of Medicaid billing in subsequent years. Gov. John Kasich has made Medicaid expansion a centerpiece in his state budget, but a Republican-led legislature took it out of the budget.”
“[O]rganizers say they will lobby state and federal lawmakers to boost reimbursements for so-called safety net hospitals — those that mostly serve patients insured by Medicaid and Medicare, the government programs for low-income and senior patients.”
“Gov. Butch Otter wants to make it harder for people to benefit from Medicaid unless they make healthy choices. It's one of the options he's weighing as he ponders whether to add Idaho's poorest adults to the program.”
“House lawmakers and Gov. Maggie Hassan want to expand Medicaid coverage to include about 58,000 more adults under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law, but the state Senate's budget panel has recommended establishing a study commission instead. Officials with the Bi-State Primary Care Association and the New Hampshire Community Behavioral Health Association are holding a news conference Thursday to make the case for expansion.”
“The legislature took another step toward expanding the state’s Medicaid rolls to cover roughly a half million newly eligible low-income residents who would have health insurance for the first time.”
“With Medicaid spending growing at its slowest pace in 25 years, Arkansas Department of Human Services officials have scrapped plans to cut reimbursement rates to doctors and hospitals, and they no longer expect the program's trust fund to be exhausted when the state's fiscal year ends June 30.”
“Full expansion would add 123,586 adults to the program and would cost Utah an estimated $260 million. However, offsets in tax revenue and savings to state and federal aid programs whose clients would become eligible for Medicaid would total $391 million, netting the state $131 million in savings.”
“Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said that under the measure, Iowans who earn up to 100 percent of the poverty level will get a medial plan equivalent to what state employees get. For those earning between 101 percent and 138 percent of poverty, the state will use federal dollars to help buy policies on insurance exchanges created as part of the Affordable Health Care Act, Quirmbach said.”
"’How in good conscience can we turn down 100 percent of anything that we know will tend to the needs of working class people in need?’ Sen. Peterson asked Monday when the Senate Finance Committee deferred action on her bill. How indeed?”
“Responding to concerns that Kasich's plan did nothing to lift the poor out of poverty, Sears said her bill calls for more personal responsibility by requiring recipients to provide co-payments for certain services, promoting job training to move unemployed recipients into the work force, and providing drug treatment to those who abuse narcotics.”
“After staunchly opposing an expansion of Iowa's Medicaid program using federal funds, Gov. Terry Branstad has agreed to seek the funding for an alternate health plan for low-income residents.”
“In the continuing tug of war over a possible Medicaid expansion in Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Corbett's administration has taken the unusual step of refuting an analysis by the state's Independent Fiscal Office that found under a Medicaid expansion, the commonwealth would gain federal funds and reduce state expenditures.”
“The level of support for expanding Medicaid -- the state and federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled -- ranged from a low of 59 percent in Mississippi to a high of 65 percent in South Carolina, according to the poll by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a leading research and public-policy think tank that focuses on blacks and other people of color.”
“For the third time in a week, Democrats in the Legislature prevailed Monday on a vote to link an expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Maine to a plan to repay the state’s Medicaid debt to its 39 hospitals.”
“Many states have taken the court up on its offer, though it means turning down massive federal subsidies — and leaving nearly 8 million low-income Americans without health-care coverage, more than 2 million of them in Florida and Texas alone.”
“Brewer, one of the state's conservative firebrands who has attracted a national following with her messages of states' rights and border security, is walking a political tightrope as she pushes to reshape how the state provides health care to the poor.”
“We're surrounded by unhealthy choices, and by people who would like to legislate them away. The latest victims of these well-intentioned busybodies are low-income Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, still known to most everyone as food stamps.”
“The clinic at the downtown homeless shelter — which provides free vision care and glasses to those without health insurance — sees more than 1,500 patients annually. It also serves another purpose: to educate the fourth-year students in the Ohio State University College of Optometry who, under the supervision of Nerderman, staff the clinic on its three open days a week.”
« Previous
Next »