Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
After Congress' Repeal Failure, States Become Battleground In Fight Over Medicaid
The Wall Street Journal: Health-Care Standoff In Washington Raises Stakes Of State-Level Fights
The collapse of the Republican effort to overhaul the health-care system and the resulting standoff in Washington has pushed the fight to the states, where a brewing conflict over Medicaid is shaping up as the next battleground. The Trump administration is expected to rule soon on Kentucky’s push to impose work requirements and other rules on Medicaid enrollees, as other states line up to follow suit. Democrats say that would weaken the program. (Armour, 10/7)
Columbus Dispatch: GOP Fight Means 3 Million Ohioans Could Lose Medicaid Next Spring
Republican state lawmakers’ unhappiness with Ohio’s Medicaid expansion is setting up a high-stakes showdown that could — just could — end all Medicaid funding by May 2018. That worst-case scenario would translate into a $1 billion-a-year cut in health-care services used by more than 3 million lower-income Ohioans ranging from nursing home residents to pregnant women to those fighting drug addiction. (Rowland and Siegel, 10/6)
The Hill: Puerto Rico Faces Looming Medicaid Crisis
Puerto Rico is facing an imminent Medicaid funding crisis, putting nearly one million people at risk of losing their health-care coverage. Even before Hurricane Maria caused major damage to the island’s struggling health-care system, the U.S. territory’s Medicaid program barely had enough money left to last through the next year. (Weixel, 10/7)
Kaiser Health News: Patients, Health Insurers Challenge Iowa’s Privatized Medicaid
Iowa is one of 38 states that radically changed the way it runs Medicaid over the past few years. The state moved about 600,000 people on the government-run health program into care that is managed by for-profit insurance companies. The idea is that the private companies would save the state money, but it has been a rocky transition in Iowa, especially for people like Neal Siegel. (Masters, 10/9)
