Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hill Republicans Press Medicaid Officials On Expansion Spending, Ineligible Enrollees
Morning Consult: Republicans Press CMS On Medicaid Expansion Policies
Congressional Republicans are pressing Obama administration officials for details on the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion before they leave office next month. Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Reps. Joe Pitts (Pa.) and Tim Murphy (Pa.) wrote to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt Monday, asking how the agency ensures ineligible people aren’t enrolling in Medicaid. The members asked Slavitt to respond within 30 days of receiving the letter. (McIntire, 12/19)
The Hill: GOP Chairmen Question ObamaCare's Medicaid Spending
The lawmakers asked a range of questions about how the administration ensures federal Medicaid dollars are not being improperly spent, such as how states and the federal government determine what the proper federal share of Medicaid spending should be for different types of enrollees. “With millions of Americans enrolled in the program, inconsistencies in [Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services'] approach to expansion populations and expenditures can shift billions of dollars to states and taxpayers,” the lawmakers wrote. (Sullivan, 12/19)
Georgia Health News: The Human Face — And The Uncertain Politics — Of Medicaid Expansion
As of now, 19 states have rejected Medicaid expansion, and Georgia is one of them. Here, people like [Kay] Rogers are not eligible for Medicaid, though it was the intent of the ACA that they would be covered by it. ... “Repeal and replace” is the standard phrase for Republican opponents of Obamacare, but some have mentioned “amending” it, and the president-elect has said he supports keeping a few popular parts of the law. What all this will mean for Medicaid — in Georgia or nationwide — is impossible to say. Still, some GOP governors and some members of the powerful Senate Finance Committee have expressed interest in preserving expanded Medicaid coverage. (Catherall and Pendley, 12/19)
Hartford Courant: Hospitals And Clinics Fear Cuts In Medicaid Under Trump
As the future of Obamacare hangs in the balance, the chief medical officer for Hartford Healthcare says that scaling back the Medicaid part of the law would mean a loss of "tens of millions of dollars" in revenue and would result in staff reductions and scaling back of services. Dr. Rocco Orlando, chief medical officer for the Hartford Healthcare system, said the hospital's leaders are very concerned about the prospect of the federal government no longer paying the vast majority of the cost of expanding eligibility for Medicaid. (Lee, 12/20)
Modern Healthcare: Renewed Tennessee Medicaid Waiver Will Limit Uncompensated-Care Funds
The Obama administration and Tennessee officials have broken their impasse over the future of federal funding that subsidizes uncompensated care provided by the state's hospitals. The funding pool is part of a larger waiver that allows the state to continue its Medicaid managed-care model, known as TennCare. Disagreements about the structure and amount of uncompensated-care funding has held up the renewal of the entire waiver for six months. (Dickson, 12/19)
Kansas Health Institute: Chairman Says House Health Committee Will Debate Medicaid Expansion
Medicaid expansion will get hearings in the Kansas House during the upcoming legislative session, the chairman of its health committee said, and leadership assignments suggest the issue may have a more receptive audience than in the past. Rep. Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican who also headed the House Health and Human Services Committee in 2016, said he remains opposed to expanding Medicaid to some low-income non-disabled adults, but his committee will debate the issue. (Wingerter, 12/19)
Kansas Health Institute: Kansas Medicaid Application Backlog Climbs Again
The Medicaid application backlog in Kansas is on its way back up, threatening months of progress on a coverage problem that has vexed health care providers across the state. For more than a year, providers that rely on Kansas Medicaid, or KanCare, have been stung by delayed payments as they wait months for eligibility determinations that by federal rule are supposed to take no more than 45 days. Nursing homes have been particularly hard hit, because about half of Kansans in nursing homes rely on Medicaid to pay for long-term care after their savings run out, and the long-term care applications are the most complex type within Medicaid. (Marso, 12/19)
