Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Millions Left Uninsured As States Redetermined Medicaid Eligibility
Stat: Millions Of People Became Uninsured As Medicaid Programs Cut Coverage, New Data Show
The national uninsured rate rose from 7.7% to 8.2% earlier this year, a result of states booting millions of Americans from their state Medicaid programs, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Herman, 8/6)
Axios: The States With The Most Uninsured Americans, Mapped
Texas is home to the country's largest share of Americans under 65 without health insurance, according to new Census Bureau data, with 18.8% of residents uninsured as of 2022. That's a big improvement over 2006, when 27.6% of Texans were uninsured — but still nearly double the national uninsured rate of 9.5%. (Fitzpatrick and Beheraj, 8/6)
Axios: Charted: Uninsured Population Grows
1.6 million more people lost health coverage in the first quarter of this year as states continued to cut their Medicaid rolls and unemployment ticked up, according to preliminary Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. (Goldman, 8/6)
Maine Morning Star: Maine Manages To Retain Most Medicare Enrollees Even As Pandemic-Era Protections End
As pandemic-era protections end, Maine has managed to keep almost 70 percent of people formerly relying on state healthcare on Medicaid, a rate better than the national average and many other states. More than 300,000 Mainers have renewed their MaineCare coverage so far, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. MaineCare is the state’s name for federal Medicaid, which provides health coverage to millions of low-income adults, children, pregnant individuals, elderly adults and people with disabilities. (Pendharkar, 8/5)
Medicaid news from Minnesota, Indiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico —
The Star Tribune: UnitedHealthcare Sues Minnesota Over Ban On For-Profit HMOs In Medicaid
UnitedHealthcare has filed a lawsuit challenging a new state law that bars for-profit HMOs from running Medicaid health plans. The measure, which takes effect next year, was part of a massive omnibus bill passed on the last day of the legislative session in May. It covered topics ranging from higher education and traffic cameras to veterinary licensure and power plant emissions and thereby violates the “single subject clause” of the state Constitution, according to the company’s complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court. (Snowbeck, 8/5)
Indiana Public Media: Indiana Wants Medicaid Members To Pay Premiums, Again. A Federal Judge Says It Violates The Law
Mulugeta Wolfe, 24, is one of the hundreds of thousands of people on Medicaid in Indiana. Specifically, Wolfe is part of Indiana’s Medicaid expansion program, called the Healthy Indiana Plan, or HIP. The program covers non-disabled adults between the ages of 19 and 64. Wolfe enrolled earlier this summer and in May, he received mail from the state that explained he would have to make a monthly, income-based payment — like a premium — starting in July to keep his coverage. Those premiums are commonly referred to as POWER account contributions. (Thorp and Rhuman, 8/6)
2 News Oklahoma: 'Providers Are Stressed': Healthcare Agency Worried Over Medicaid Billing Issues
Billing issues are causing major concerns for some healthcare providers. It comes after the state switched to SoonerSelect earlier this year. “Our providers are stressed,” said Therapeutic Life Choices Clinical Director Tiara Delonia. Delonia said since the state switched to SoonerSelect in April, contracting with 3 insurance agencies, Aetna Better Health of Oklahoma, Humana Healthy Horizons of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma Complete Health, they’ve seen multiple issues. “We still have a lot of money that we haven’t received for our providers just for the services they’ve been providing,” said Delonia. (Keit, 8/5)
Santa Fe New Mexican: State Wins Federal Approval For Medicaid Behind Bars And Other Social Programs
Nobody gets out of jail free, but one effort underway in New Mexico would make it possible to get out with health insurance. A plan to start reactivating inmates’ Medicaid benefits while they’re still behind bars — a move state leaders say will help stop New Mexicans from falling into the medical and behavioral health care gap upon release — scored an initial victory last month after the federal government signed off on the concept. (Porter, 8/5)
In related news —
HCP LIve: Medicaid Enrollees Struggle To Receive Psychiatric Care
A recent study revealed Medicaid enrollees struggle to receive psychiatric care.1 The largest Medicaid-managed care plans across 4 US cities only had 17.8% of psychiatrists or mental health professionals listed as in-network for Medicaid who were reachable, accepted Medicaid, and could provide a new patient appointment. (Derman, 8/5)
Managed Healthcare Executive: Study Finds More Than 20% Of Children With Medicaid Receive Metformin For Type 1 Diabetes
Health plan costs in the first three months after diagnosis with type 1 diabetes were more than 2.5 times higher in children with a commercial health plan than in patients with Medicaid, finds a new study. In this study, which was conducted by Sanofi, researchers found that patients in Medicaid plans had higher emergency room visits for hypoglycemia compared with those with commercial plans. Additionally, researchers saw higher rates of comorbidities in children with the Medicaid health plans and less use of continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pumps. (Myshko, 8/5)
