By: Sara Murray | WSJ Like nearly every other governor, Maine's new Republican leader is trying to tame the cost of Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health insurance to the poor. He just doesn't know if Washington will let him—even though Maine has among the most generous programs in the country. Medicaid was created in 1965 to provide health coverage for the poorest Americans, particularly those with children. States pay, on average, 43% of the tab for … [Read more...]
Florida Senators May Cut Optional Medicaid Services
February 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment
MIAMI (AP) — Florida Senate leaders may propose cutting dentistry, optometry and mental health services for Medicaid patients as they try to curb the program's budget, which is expected to top $21 billion next year. The emerging Senate bill calls for making cuts in so-called optional services as well as increasing reimbursement rates and limiting legal liabilities for primary care doctors. Although the increased reimbursement rates would cost more, senators want to encourage primary … [Read more...]
Double-digit Medicaid growth pile-drives Texas budget
January 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Caralyn Davis Not only is Texas facing a shortfall of $11 billion to $15 billion when the next state budget is due in 2011, but unanticipated healthcare costs have already driven the state's current two-year budget, just six months after passage, into the red as well, reports the Dallas Morning News. Medicaid is the primary culprit, accounting for $1.3 billion of the deficit. Other offenders include health coverage for state employees ($142 million); correctional managed healthcare … [Read more...]
GOP invokes 1700s doctrine in health care fight
January 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment
John Miller | Associated Press BOISE, Idaho – Republican lawmakers in nearly a dozen states are reaching into the dusty annals of American history to fight President Obama's health care overhaul. They are introducing measures that hinge on "nullification," Thomas Jefferson's late 18th-century doctrine that purported to give states the ultimate say in constitutional matters. GOP lawmakers introduced such a measure Wednesday in the Idaho House, and Alabama, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, … [Read more...]
Texas budget deficit impact on Medicaid provider rates
January 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Gregg Phillips Today is D-Day - or maybe B-Day - in Texas as the high level budget is laid out by House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts. The budget recommendations will require devastating cuts to Medicaid provider rates possibly in excess of 12 percent! In addition, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission will see significant cuts in its record employment of 57,000 state employees. Governor Perry will be forced to use all of his skills as the leader of the State to force a … [Read more...]
A Ticket to Nowhere: How a Provider Shortage Jeopardizes Central Texas Health
January 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Patricia Young Brown Central Health Austin has a healthcare-provider shortage that will worsen dramatically over the next ten years if nothing changes, affecting health care’s quality, cost, and accessibility for all of us. And this will affect not only those who have private health insurance, but also those who may qualify for Medicaid, as well as over 67,000 current Medicare beneficiaries and the tens of thousands of people who will age into Medicare in the coming … [Read more...]
Feds to Decide what Benefits Health Insurers Must Cover
January 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Jule Appleby | Kaiser Health News WASHINGTON — Even as House Republicans vow to repeal the health care law, government advisers are preparing this week to wade into one of the most contentious questions the legislation raises: What benefits must insurers cover? The answer will affect tens of millions of Americans beginning in 2014: those who buy their own insurance and those who get coverage through small employers. While the law outlines 10 broad categories of coverage — … [Read more...]
Christie May Cut Medicaid as $10.5 Billion New Jersey Budget Deficit Looms
January 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Terrance Dopp New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gives his first State of the State speech tomorrow after saying he may cut Medicaid and employee benefits to eliminate a $10.5 billion budget deficit in the second-wealthiest U.S. state. Christie, who took office a year ago, said he’ll tell lawmakers in his address that New Jersey remains in a financial crisis and they need to maintain fiscal controls as employment and revenue recover slowly from the longest recession since the 1930s. The … [Read more...]
GOP Governors Seek Leeway to Cut Medicaid Rolls
January 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Janet Adamy Republican governors are pressing the Obama administration to make it easier for states to cut Medicaid enrollment, setting up a fight over one of states' costliest programs. On Friday, 33 Republican governors and governors-elect plan to send a letter to the White House and congressional leaders asking them to remove a part of the health-care overhaul law. Under the rule, states that drop enrollees from the program would lose the federal money that … [Read more...]
