Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Alabama Trims Medicaid Payments To Doctors Because Of Budget Shortfall
AL.com: Alabama Medicaid Agency Cuts Payments To Doctors
The Alabama Medicaid Agency is reducing some payments to doctors to help address what the agency describes as a "budget crisis." Beginning August 1, doctors will no longer received enhanced payments for certain primary care visits and services. The enhanced payments, known as the "bump," raised payments to Medicare levels. (Cason, 7/6)
Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser: Citing Budget Woes, Medicaid Plans To Cut Doctors' Rates
Commissioner Stephanie Azar announced Wednesday afternoon the agency would end increased payments to physicians, known as a primary care bump, that was first funded out of the Affordable Care Act and later continued by the state. The bump meant doctors accepting Medicaid got paid at higher Medicare rates. It was credited with allowing more physicians to participate in the program. But Azar said in a statement that the General Fund budget passed by the Legislature in April -- which gave Medicaid $85 million less than it said it needed to maintain services -- forced them to begin making cuts. Eliminating the primary care bump would save the program about $14.7 million. (Lyman, 7/6)
Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Critics Blast Medicaid Plan At Hazard Hearing
A sweeping plan to overhaul Kentucky's Medicaid program met its most forceful opposition yet in a region with some of the state's highest rates of enrollment in the federal-state health plan for the poor. Wednesday was the third and last public hearing on Gov. Matt Bevin's proposed "waiver," or request from the federal government – which provides most of the state's Medicaid money – to reshape the program into one he argues will make Kentuckians healthier and more responsible for their care. (Yetter, 7/6)
Kaiser Health News: Despite Federal Directive, Texas Denies Medicaid Coverage For An Autism Therapy
Like many parents of children with autism, Braulio De La Cruz sought an expensive therapy called applied behavioral analysis -- or ABA -- when his son Noah Leonardo was diagnosed last year. Noah, now 3 years old, qualifies for Medicaid coverage because he had been approved for Social Security’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, and his neurologist sent paperwork to get the state to cover the therapy. But Medicaid officials rejected the request. Braulio De La Cruz appealed the decision, but that effort hit a major roadblock last fall when the state suddenly said the Medicaid program would not cover behavioral therapy. (Harrington, 7/7)
