Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Can Virginia Governor's Friendly Bonds With Republicans Translate Into Medicaid Expansion Win?
The Washington Post: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam Is Hoping His Many Friendships In The Legislature Will Result In Legislative Victory.
Democrats determined to expand Medicaid cooked up a plan to flip a Republican in Virginia’s closely divided state Senate. They’d take one of Sen. William M. Stanley Jr.’s bills, aimed at reviving a shuttered hospital in his struggling rural district, and hold it hostage until the Republican got on board. But one Democrat, a longtime friend of Stanley’s, was so bothered by the hardball tactic that he tipped him off and then persuaded fellow Democrats to approve the bill. To top it off, Stanley’s pal whisked him from Richmond to the North Carolina border, and there, on grounds of defunct Patrick County Hospital, signed the Republican’s bill into law. (Vozzella, 3/6)
In other Medicaid news —
The Associated Press: Fallin Seeks Work Requirement For Medicaid In Oklahoma
Gov. Mary Fallin is ordering the state’s Medicaid agency to develop a requirement that certain able-bodied participants work in order to keep receiving benefits. Fallin issued an executive order on Tuesday directing the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to submit recommendations to the governor and Legislature within the next six months. (3/6)
The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: Pa. Human Services Head Cites Expense Of Forcing Medicaid Recipients To Get Jobs
Among the hot-button issues for members of the Pennsylvania House of Representative’s Appropriations Committee at Tuesday’s hearing for the state’s Department of Human Services was their desire to require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work — for the sake of constituents who go without services “because someone else is getting a free ride.” “We’re not doing enough here to get people into jobs,” State Rep. Stan Saylor (R., York), chairman of the committee, told acting Secretary Teresa Miller, who spent about five hours testifying during morning and afternoon sessions. Saylor spoke of seniors who can’t get needed services because of the “free ride” others are enjoying. (Brubaker, 3/6)
