Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Some GOP Officials May Move Toward Medicaid Expansion Now That Work Requirements Are Allowed
The Associated Press: Work Requirements May Prompt More States To Expand Medicaid
In an ironic twist, the Trump administration's embrace of work requirements for low-income people on Medicaid is prompting lawmakers in some conservative states to resurrect plans to expand health care for the poor. Trump's move has been widely criticized as threatening the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. But if states follow through, more Americans could get coverage. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/24)
The Hill: Top Medicaid Official To Leave Post Next Month
Brian Neale, a top Medicaid official in the Trump administration, is leaving his post next month, officials announced Tuesday. Neale is the deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) overseeing Medicaid. His departure comes amid a major conservative change in Medicaid, allowing states to impose work requirements on enrollees, a move the administration announced earlier this month. Neale had helped shepherd those changes. It is not clear where he is going or why he decided to leave. (Sullivan, 1/23)
Modern Healthcare: Pence Ally Brian Neale Exiting CMS Medicaid Post
Industry insiders who work with both the CMS and states said the sudden departure surprised agency staffers. At issue was some sort of disagreement between Verma and Neale that erupted in the past few days. One source said workload may have also played a factor in Neale's decision to exit. Neale denied both of these assertions, as well as the sentiment that his exit was sudden. ... Sources say Calder Lynch, who quit his job last year as Nebraska's Medicaid director to become a senior counselor to Verma, is a likely Neale replacement. (Dickson, 1/23)
The Hill: NY To Guarantee Medicaid For DACA Recipients Regardless Of Federal Action
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced Tuesday that “Dreamers” will remain eligible for state-funded Medicaid regardless of whether the program expires. There are currently 42,000 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, known as “Dreamers,” living in New York. The program is set to expire in March after President Trump moved to kill it last year. (Anapol, 1/23)
The Washington Post: At Northam’s Urging, Democrats Back Off Hardball Medicaid Tactic And Pass Rural Hospital Bill
Senate Democrats on Tuesday backed off a threat to hold a bill related to a rural hospital hostage because its Republican sponsor wouldn’t agree to expand Medicaid, abandoning their hardball tactic at the urging of Gov. Ralph Northam (D). One week after a bloc of Democrats killed a bill intended to help the shuttered Patrick County hospital in Southwest Virginia, the Senate voted unanimously for an identical measure, which Sen. William Stanley (R-Franklin) filed just hours after the original had died. (Vozzella, 1/23)
Crain's Chicago Business: Audit Stings Rauner's Medicaid Program
A new state audit raises questions about the Rauner administration's ability to keep tabs on private insurers in a Medicaid program that is estimated to cost the state $60 billion over the next four years. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services failed to adequately monitor $7.11 billion that flowed to and from private insurers in Medicaid managed care, a state program that aims to save the government money, according to a report released today by the Illinois auditor general. (Schorsch, 1/23)
Chicago Tribune: Audit Slams State Oversight Of Illinois Medicaid Managed Care Programs
The report, requested by the state legislature last May, comes as Illinois shifts hundreds of thousands more people into the Medicaid managed care program and raises questions about its ability to oversee the expanded program. ... According to the report, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services could not provide auditors with complete or reliable data that the agency was required to collect under its agreements with the 12 MCOs it contracted with in 2016. The agency wasn’t able to provide data on paid claims MCOs made to providers; the claims denied by MCOs; administrative costs and coordinated care costs incurred by MCOs; and what percentage of each MCO’s premium income goes to health care and quality improvement as opposed to marketing and other costs, which is information required by federal law. (Elejalde-Ruiz, 1/23)
KCUR: Push Growing To Pause, Not Cancel, Medicaid For Kansans In Custody
Today, when mentally ill Kansans land in a psychiatric hospital or behind bars, they lose Medicaid coverage. When they’re freed, the daunting chore of signing up for government health coverage starts from scratch. Now, a push gaining steam among state lawmakers would merely pause that coverage, keeping care and critical medications ready for mental health patients when they get out. A bill introduced in the House this week would let the state effectively “press pause” on Medicaid coverage for patients or inmates. It would immediately reinstate those benefits when they leave those facilities. (Fox, 1/23)
