Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Even As More Red States Move Toward Medicaid Expansion With Caveats, Texas Hasn't Budged
Texas Tribune: What The Medicaid Coverage Gap Means To Texans Without Health Insurance
First, individual states had to agree to expand their Medicaid program, and the federal government offered to pay for 100 percent of states' Medicaid expansion from 2014 to 2016 — aid that decreased to 90 percent by 2020. But a number of states, including Texas, fought the Obama administration’s mandate to expand Medicaid, and in 2012 the Supreme Court ruled states were not required to comply with the mandate. That left about 638,000 non-elderly Texans in the Medicaid gap as of 2016 — the most among the states that didn’t expand Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Allyson Waller, 12/17)
Kaiser Health News: Health Suffers Deep In The Troubled Heart Of Texas
The booming $1.8 trillion Texas economy rivals that of many countries and puts the state at the top of a host of rankings for its fast-growing cities, low unemployment and job growth. But the familiar Texas braggadocio disappears when it comes to health care. (Jayson, 12/17)
Kansas City Star: Kansas Pediatricians Slam KanCare Billing Change
Kansas pediatricians say it was already hard to make a living seeing Medicaid patients, and a billing change that went into effect Nov. 1 is making it even harder. Pediatricians say they are now often paid significantly less when they see kids on Kansas Medicaid — or KanCare — although the state says that wasn’t the intention. (Marso, 12/16)
