Senate Bill Introduced To Maintain Medicaid Primary Care Pay Boost Through 2016
In other news, House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats unveiled legislation to extend funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program for four years.
Medscape: Bill Would Keep Medicaid Raise For Primary Care Through 2016
On July 30, 2 senators introduced a bill that would extend a Medicaid raise for primary-care physicians another 2 years through 2016 and make more clinicians eligible for the extra money. Given that the temporary pay hike was authorized by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the bill's prospects are cloudy in the House, controlled by Republicans who want to junk the healthcare reform law, even if the Senate were to pass it. The ACA allocated funds to boost historically paltry Medicaid rates to Medicare levels in 2013 and 2014 for evaluation and management (E/M) services and vaccine administration (Lowes, 8/1).
Related KHN coverage: 6 States, D.C. Extending Medicaid Pay Raise Next Year To Primary Care Doctors (Galewitz, 7/31).
CQ Healtbeat: Democrats Offer Bill Extending CHIP Funding Through 2019
The top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled legislation Thursday that would extend funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Program for four years. Without such legislation, no new funding will be available for CHIP after September 2015, said Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey and Henry A. Waxman of California. Waxman is ranking member of the full committee and Pallone ranking member of its health subcommittee. The bill also gives states the option to permanently use “express lane eligibility,” to reduce administrative burdens involved in the enrollment process. That authority is set to expire next year (Reichard, 7/31).
