Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Iowa Officials Secretly Agree To Help Medicaid Managed Care Companies Cover Some Losses
Des Moines Register: State Agrees To Help Medicaid Companies Shoulder Huge Losses
State leaders have agreed to help private Medicaid management companies shoulder huge losses they’ve suffered in covering more than 500,000 poor or disabled Iowans, documents released Friday show. The three national companies have complained about “catastrophic” losses on the Iowa project, which started last April. They have pleaded for the government to help them make up for about $450 million in red ink. ... The documents were released Friday afternoon in response to a Des Moines Register open-records request made Jan. 12. (Leys, 3/24)
The (Columbia, S.C.) State/Independent Mail: State To Pay $12 Million To Nursing Homes For Medicaid Delays
Two dozen Upstate nursing homes have agreed to accept a total of $1.8 million to settle a dispute with state officials over delays in processing Medicaid applications. The payments are part of the $12 million that the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services offered to pay 148 nursing homes throughout the state last month to avoid litigation. As of Friday, 138 nursing homes had agreed to the proposed settlement, said Colleen Mullis, the department’s deputy communications director. (Brown, 3/26)
Concord (N.H.) Monitor: New Hampshire Medicaid Match Among Nation’s Lowest
Now that the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act is off the table, New Hampshire and other states will get to keep their expanded Medicaid programs – at least for now. Even though that outcome is being welcomed by health care providers, the fact remains that New Hampshire’s current Medicaid reimbursement rates are some of the worst in the nation. The Granite State is among the states who receive a 50 percent Medicaid match from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid – the lowest rate available for hospitals and other health care organizations. (Nilsen, 3/25)
