In Some Red States That Expanded Medicaid, Focus Shifts To Details Of Federal Waivers
These waivers allow states to create a Medicaid expansion that fits their political outlooks. Also, news outlets examine Medicaid expansion news in Kentucky, Ohio, Louisiana and Idaho.
Modern Healthcare:
Waivers Are New Battlefront In Republican-Led States That Expanded Medicaid
Providers, patients and lawmakers in Arizona and Iowa are urging the CMS to reject Medicaid changes proposed by Republican governors. But in Michigan, the same array of stakeholders wants the CMS to allow conservative provisions to save the state's Medicaid expansion. That's because when Michigan lawmakers passed legislation in 2013 expanding Medicaid eligibility in the state, they included a clause requiring the expansion to sunset in 2016 unless the CMS accepts provisions such as sharp increases in premiums and cost-sharing obligations. (Dickson, 12/7)
NPR:
As Rural Kentucky Struggles, Medicaid Expansion Could Be Rolled Back
Kentucky embraced Obamacare and extended health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of people who hadn't had it. Governor-elect Matt Bevin, who's sworn in on Tuesday, may roll that back. (Lopez, 12/8)
WOSU (Columbus, Ohio):
Medicaid Expansion Helps Inmates Get Health Care
Someone who’s preparing to get out of prison has a lot to think about. They have to find housing, a job, transportation. Health care often falls to the wayside. But the state’s corrections department has begun to help inmates find insurance before they’re released. Ohio’s decision to expand Medicaid plays a key role. Each year, roughly 20,000 people are released from Ohio prisons. They haven’t left with much as far as health care is concerned. ... But then Governor John Kasich expanded Medicaid. With income eligibility raised, more inmates would qualify. ... The pre-release Medicaid enrollment pilot program began at the women’s prison, in Marysville, 15 months ago. About 90 days before their parole dates, inmates are introduced to the different programs offered in Ohio. A few days later, a Medicaid agent enrolls them over the phone. (Trimble, 12/7)
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
State Senate Finance Committee Asks For Report On Medicaid Expansion
Senate Finance Committee members asked the Department of Health and Hospitals on Monday (Dec. 7) to produce a report outlining Louisiana's options for expanding Medicaid, to be delivered by Jan. 1. Monday's meeting was the second time the committee has met about the rising costs of health care in Louisiana since the legislative session ended in June. The tone of the meeting was noticeably different than the committee's Oct. 24 session, when Medicaid expansion was not even mentioned by name. (Litten, 12/7)
Idaho Statesman:
State Plan Takes Aim At Idaho’s Health Insurance Coverage Gap
The Otter administration is proposing a state-funded partial alternative to Medicaid expansion that could deliver basic primary care for 78,000 Idahoans who now have little or no access to health care coverage. The Governor’s Office and Department of Health and Welfare personnel have met with state legislators, business groups and health organizations to outline the proposal, the basic details of which call for state payments to primary care providers to cover basic preventive health care for people in the so-called coverage gap — people who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to qualify for assistance obtaining health insurance. The payments would amount to about $32 per month per individual covered — roughly $30 million in all. Emergency room visits, acute care, hospitalizations and prescriptions would not be covered, and the state’s existing reliance on county indigent funds and the state catastrophic fund to pay for crisis care would be retained. (Dentzer, 12/4)
