Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medicaid Expansion Poised To Go Before Nebraska Voters In November
NPR: 133,000 Nebraskans Sign Petitions To Put Medicaid Expansion On The Ballot
Voters in Nebraska may get to decide whether their state expands Medicaid this November. Supporters of Nebraska's Medicaid expansion campaign, Insure the Good Life, turned in petitions bearing more than 133,000 signatures to the secretary of state Thursday. If 85,000 are validated, the issue will appear on ballots this fall. (Knapp, 7/6)
The Associated Press: Advocates: Dental Care Denied Wrongly After Medicaid Cuts
Some children and pregnant women in Kentucky have wrongly been denied access to dental care since the state abruptly cut dental and vision coverage for as many as 460,000 people, public health advocates say. The cuts came after Gov. Matt Bevin's plan to overhaul the state's Medicaid program was blocked by a federal judge. (7/6)
The CT Mirror: Plaintiffs Ask Court To Find DSS In Contempt In Medicaid Case
The plaintiffs in a federal class action lawsuit who settled with the state Department of Social Services want a judge to find the state in contempt for failing to process certain types of Medicaid applications in the mandated time frame. Legal aid attorneys filed the lawsuit in 2012, claiming that DSS had failed to employ enough workers to process Medicaid applications in the time frame required by federal law, leaving thousands of low-income residents without access to health care coverage. (Rigg, 7/6)
Des Moines Register: UnitedHealthcare Is Trying Again To Cut In-Home Care To Paralyzed Iowan
Jamie Campbell can’t believe his Medicaid management company is messing with his care again. Campbell, who is paralyzed from the neck down, lives in his home with daily assistance from aides paid by Iowa’s Medicaid program. UnitedHealthcare, which the state hired to help manage Medicaid, tried last year to drastically reduce the amount of in-home help Campbell could receive. He appealed, saying he needed all the assistance he was using. An administrative law judge agreed, writing in a decision last summer that the evidence was “overwhelmingly” in Campbell’s favor. The judge ordered the insurer to continue covering his care as before. (Leys, 7/6)
