Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Iowa Seeks Federal Permission To Eliminate Medicaid's 3 Months Of Retroactive Coverage
Des Moines Register: Proposed Iowa Medicaid Change Would Eliminate Months Of Retroactive Benefits
Dozens of individuals and organizations are protesting an effort by the state of Iowa to cut benefits for new Medicaid beneficiaries. Currently, Medicaid has a retroactive-eligibility provision that provides payment for health care services that were delivered in the three months leading up to a person being formally declared eligible for Medicaid. It’s intended to ensure that health care providers accept patients even when those individuals have yet to apply for Medicaid. ... The Iowa Department of Human Services has asked the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for permission to eliminate the three-month time-frame and have Medicaid pay only for the care that’s delivered from the first day of the month in which the patient applies for eligibility (Kauffman, 8/30)
Jackson Clarion-Ledger: Medicaid Stands By $2B Managed Care Contract Award; Hospital Groups Cry Foul
The Mississippi Division of Medicaid acted appropriately in giving two incumbent companies and a third California-based company a $2 billion managed care contract, the agency argued Tuesday. Two losing bidders, Mississippi True and Amerigroup, protested the award and claimed the agency's scoring criteria were biased against them, that their scores were unfairly low and that the Medicaid director had a conflict of interest with one of the winners. (Wolfe, 8/30)
