States’ Legal Challenge Focuses High Court On Medicaid Expansion
It is expected that the high court will soon decide which among the key issues and lawsuits challenging the health reform measure it will hear. In related news, media outlets offer local angles on how health law implementation is going and how it might impact specific states.
CQ HealthBeat: States Say Supreme Court Should Rule On Medicaid Expansion In Health Care Law
The 26 states that are challenging the 2010 health care law filed a brief Monday in their suit saying that the Supreme Court should consider all issues — including the law's Medicaid expansion — in deciding how it will proceed. The multistate suit is one of four in which decisions from federal appeals courts have been appealed to the high court. It is expected that justices may decide soon which cases they will hear in oral arguments during the current term (Norman, 10/24).
And in the states —
The Record (New Jersey): Health Care Reforms Could Save N.J. $100M
Federal health care reform has had a sizable impact on New Jersey's health coverage for public workers and is now expected to save the state nearly $100 million in 2012. That means the state, which brokers health care for 850,000 employees and dependents, is on track to save three dollars for every dollar spent to implement the nationwide health care reforms advocated by President Obama. New Jersey saves a total of $153 million next year through two major programs aimed at retirees. Costs have risen too, as dependent children are covered longer, insurers are banned from capping medical payouts and existing plans lose grandfathered status and must comply with new rules (Fletcher, 10/25).
Kansas Health Institute News: Insurance Company Group Prefers A State-Run Exchange
"I hope you do consider moving forward with a state exchange, encouraging private-market competition," said Dianne Bricker, regional director of state advocacy for [America's Health Insurance Plans]. ... Her remarks were to the Legisalture's Joint Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance, which spent most of the day hearing about the likely consequences of the federal health reform law in Kansas with particular focus on how an insurance exchange might work here (Shields, 10/24).