Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'It Is The Moral Thing To Do': Ky. Governor Fulfills Campaign Promise By Rescinding Medicaid Work Requirements
The Associated Press: Kentucky Governor Rescinds Planned Medicaid Work Requirement
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday halted his Republican predecessor's efforts to impose work requirements as a condition for some able-bodied adults to receive Medicaid health coverage, calling his action the “moral, faith-driven thing to do." The new Democratic governor signed an executive order rescinding former Gov. Matt Bevin's plan to require that the affected recipients either work, study, volunteer or perform other “community engagement" activities to qualify for Medicaid coverage. A federal judge blocked the requirements before they took effect, but Bevin's administration had appealed. (Schreiner, 12/16)
The Wall Street Journal: Kentucky’s New Governor Ends Medicaid Work Requirement
Under Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear—Mr. Beshear’s father, who held office from 2007 to 2015—Kentucky expanded Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor, and created a health exchange. But Republican Gov. Matt Bevin dismantled the exchange after taking office in 2015 and proposed changes to Medicaid that he said were necessary to keep costs down. Among the policies he pursued was a requirement that recipients perform a minimum number of hours of work or other activities like volunteering. CMS, which has supported work requirements under President Trump, approved the plan in 2018, triggering a lawsuit challenging it. (Campo-Flores, 12/16)
Lexington Herald Leader: Medicaid Work Requirements Out In KY, Gov. Andy Beshear Says
Protracted legal challenges brought by Medicaid recipients have kept Bevin’s plan from taking effect even though the federal government has twice approved it. Days before Bevin’s plan was to take effect in June of 2018, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C. blocked the implementation of Kentucky HEALTH, criticizing President Donald Trump’s approval of the waiver as “arbitrary and capricious.” (Acquisto, 12/16)
Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Medicaid: Beshear Pulls Plug On Bevin Plan To Add Work Rules
The news was greeted with enthusiasm by health care advocates and others who attended the event, including some of the individual Kentuckians represented in the federal lawsuit challenging Bevin's plan. Among them was Debra Wittig, 63, of Frankfort, who said getting health coverage through Medicaid likely saved her life after she suffered for years from severe, untreated arthritis that left her bedridden and in such excruciating pain she no longer wanted to live. (Yetter, 12/16)
The Hill: Kentucky Gov. Beshear Rescinds Medicaid Work Requirements
Thirty-six states and Washington, D.C., expanded Medicaid to cover more low-income adults under ObamaCare. But lawmakers in Republican-led states looking to curtail rising health care spending have turned to work requirements as a way to trim Medicaid rolls; since Kentucky’s 2018 approval, the Trump administration has approved work requirements in close to a dozen states. (Weixel, 12/16)
In other news on Medicaid —
Reveal/The Associated Press: Probe: Medicaid Funds Still Go To Suspect Senior Care Homes
Medicaid funding has continued to flow to dozens of senior care-home operators in four states cited for stealing workers’ wages or breaking other labor laws, an investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting has found. Earlier this fall, Medicaid funding went to at least 45 care homes previously cited for labor violations in California, Florida, Oregon and Wisconsin. (Gollan, 12/16)
The Star Tribune: Minnesota DHS Official Served On Nonprofit's Board While Approving Payments
A senior official at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) approved thousands of dollars in payments to a private organization while he was serving on its board of directors. Documents obtained by the Star Tribune show that former Assistant Commissioner Nathan Moracco signed contracts and payment authorizations with the nonprofit Minnesota Health Action Group, an organization that ran a quality improvement program to provide better care for Medicaid enrollees. (Howatt, 12/16)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: As Medicaid Cuts Grow In Missouri, It's Story Time At The Governor's Mansion
Gov. Mike Parson sat down in the Governor’s Mansion to read the children a story. They were in Missouri’s capital city on a school tour, and the governor thought he’d teach them some history. He pulled out a book that was written before the children were born. “The Great Medicaid Cuts Caper of 2005” was its title. (Messenger, 12/16)
Texas Tribune: Nonprofits Say Texas Broke The Law By Denying Them Medicaid Contracts
Texas health officials violated state law when it said it would award a multibillion dollar series of health insurance contracts to for-profit companies while overlooking nonprofit health plans, a lawsuit brought by two nonprofit health insurers alleges. Up for grabs is a piece of roughly $10 billion, doled out to health plans that insure patients in Texas’ privatized Medicaid system who are blind, disabled or older than 65. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission announced tentative winners in October. (Walters, 12/17)
