Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Advocates Hope Medicaid Buy-In Could Be A Softer, More Politically Palatable Alternative To 'Medicare For All'
Modern Healthcare: Can Lawmakers Convince Hospitals To Support Medicaid Buy-In?
Ahead of the 2020 elections, liberal advocacy groups at the state level are pushing Medicaid buy-in—a public option Democrats increasingly view as a softer, safer policy alternative to "Medicare for all." But healthcare providers are averse to even this more modest proposal, especially hospitals that don't want to lose commercial reimbursements to scantier Medicaid rates. In New Mexico, more than 40% of residents are already on Medicaid, and the state is one of the pioneers in proposing Medicaid buy-in policies. Advocates hope the state Legislature will consider such a policy early next year. (Luthi, 8/23)
In other Medicaid news —
Kaiser Health News: Medicaid Covers Foster Kids, But Daunting Health Needs Still Slip Through The Cracks
Sherri and Thomas Croom have been foster parents to 27 children — from newborns to teenagers — during the past decade.That has meant visits to dozens of doctors and dentists for issues ranging from a tonsillectomy to depression. While foster parenting has innumerable challenges, health care coverage for the children isn’t one of them. Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor, picks up the tab for nearly all children in foster care and often continues to cover them if they are adopted, regardless of their parents’ income. (Galewitz, 8/24)
Georgia Health News: Medicaid Spending Growth Helps Spur Higher Budget Requests
The state’s main health care agency is requesting $72.9 million in additional funding for the current fiscal year (FY 2019, which runs through next June 30), and $195.8 million more for fiscal 2020. The board of the Department of Community Health approved the budget requests at a meeting Thursday. The proposal now goes to the governor’s office, and after possible revisions there, to the General Assembly in January. (Miller, 8/23)
Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: New Group Offers A Proposal To Save Kentucky's Medicaid Expansion
Saying Kentucky's expansion of Medicaid to about 500,000 Kentuckians must be preserved, a group led by hospital executives has launched a campaign to get lawmakers to consider broadening a state tax on health care providers to help pay for it. Norton Healthcare Vice President Riggs Lewis, the group's president, said Wednesday that the plan would generate revenue to fund the expansion as Medicaid costs rise in future years. (Yetter, 8/22)
