State Highlights: Anthem Blue Cross To Pay $8.3M To Calif. Customers In Legal Settlement; New Mexico’s Medicaid Costs A ‘Runaway Train’
News outlets report on health issues in California, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, New York, Florida, Oregon, Texas, Minnesota, and Illinois.
The San Jose Mercury News:
Anthem Blue Cross Refunding $8.3 Million To 50,000 Californians
Anthem Blue Cross of California will refund $8.3 million to 50,000 Californians because of mid-year changes it made to individual customers' annual policies in 2011, according to a class-action lawsuit settlement announced Tuesday. (Seipel, 10/27)
Los Angeles Times:
Anthem Blue Cross To Repay $8.3 Million To California Customers
Anthem Blue Cross agreed to end midyear policy changes that raise costs for consumers and to reimburse nearly $8.3 million to about 50,000 customers in California as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit announced Tuesday. (Masunaga, 10/27)
Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal:
State Medicaid Costs Called A ‘Runaway Train’
Top-ranking Human Services Department officials told legislators Tuesday they will need nearly $1 billion next year for the state’s share of rapidly rising Medicaid costs – described by one key lawmaker as a “runaway train.” Members of a key legislative panel reacted with alarm to the request for an additional $85.2 million, or 8.5 percent, to keep up with skyrocketing enrollment and a looming decrease in the federal matching rate for states like New Mexico that opted to expand their Medicaid programs. (Boyd, 10/28)
Reuters:
Judge Allows Pennsylvania To Cut off Hospital Facing Fraud Claims
Pennsylvania's health agency can suspend Medicaid payments to a mental health clinic operator facing a whistleblower lawsuit alleging it defrauded the government healthcare program, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Monday ruled that Lehigh Valley Community Mental Health Centers, which operates clinics in Allentown, Easton and Bethlehem, was not entitled to a temporary restraining order requiring the state to continue some Medicaid payments. (Pierson, 10/28)
The Washington Post:
Virginia Health-Care Experts Review Law GOP Pans As Competition Killer
A panel of hospital CEOs, doctors and health-care executives on Tuesday considered changes to Virginia laws regulating medical facilities and services that two federal agencies said curb competition and stifle innovation in the state’s health-care industry. (Portnoy, 10/27)
The Connecticut Mirror:
Bipartisan Budget Talks Place Pressure On GOP To Find Solutions
The most vocal critics of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s handling of the state finances, Republican legislative leaders, will find things harder this month as they shift from commenting on the deficit-plagued budget to balancing it. Sen. Len Fasano and Rep. Themis Klarides will find it particularly difficult to both oppose tax hikes and shield hospitals and social services from cuts if the leaders try to stabilize finances long-term. (Phaneuf, 10/27)
The Associated Press:
NY Lets Patients Tap Caregiver For Discharge Instructions
New York law now requires hospitals to let patients designate a family member or unrelated caregiver who will be advised about medical care, transfers to other facilities and medical needs upon discharge. (10/27)
Health News Florida:
Health Care Politics Shakes Up FL's West Coast
The Florida Department of Health wants Sarasota County to privatize its prenatal care in the next three years. And that has its southern neighbors worried – after all, when Charlotte County privatized health care, residents started leaving the county for care. Charlotte County Commission Chairman Bill Truex walks through a small, squat building that houses a lot of the government functions for the small town of Englewood. He points into a darkened room. (Aboraya, 10/27)
Kaiser Health News:
Survey: Low-Income Elderly Reject Calif. Managed Care Experiment For Fear Of Change
A large share of low-income elderly Californians have opted out of a statewide managed care experiment because they feared losing their doctors and were reluctant to make any changes to their health care, according to survey data released Tuesday by the Field Poll. (Gorman, 10/27)
The Oregonian:
Portland Woman Breaks Up Planned Parenthood Protest Yelling "Yeast Infections"
Yelling at the top of your raspy voice about yeast infections can sure disperse a crowd of Planned Parenthood protesters. Mary Numair found that out Sunday in a spontaneous single-woman counter protest in front of the organization's center in Northeast Portland. As she repeatedly chanted "YEAST IN-FECTIONS," parents and children toting signs declaring "ABORTION IS MURDER" scurried away. (Terry, 10/27)
The Dallas Morning News:
Planned Parenthood Case In Texas Is On Federal Officials’ Radar
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said Monday that her office has been in touch with Texas officials over state efforts to block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid dollars, but she didn’t indicate whether any federal action would be taken. (Shine, 10/27)
Minnesota Public Radio:
In MN, A Quest For A Place To Say Goodbye To Terminally Ill Kids
Most states lack a children's hospice, largely because terminal childhood conditions are so unpredictable it stymies insurance coverage. While some health plans pay for hospice care in the last six months of life, it's rarely clear when a young body has only six months left. (Benson, 10/28)
Reuters:
Illinois Clinic Did Not Discriminate Against Bipolar Doctor - 7th Circuit
A Peoria, Illinois clinic did not discriminate against a doctor with bipolar disorder by firing him when he failed to return to work from a medical leave immediately after a psychiatrist cleared him to do so. Judge Sara Ellis of the Northern District of Illinois U.S. District Court, sitting on a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel by designation, said the clinic, Proctor Health Care Inc, had made every effort to keep the doctor, Larry Hooper, who had worked there since 2009. (Pierson, 10/28)
Health News Florida:
Prenatal Care 100% Available In One Florida County
Most county health departments no longer offer services to pregnant women. But on Florida’s Space Coast, the opposite is true: The county health department offers 100 percent coverage for pregnant women. Here, 21-year-old Briana Colson has just met with her obstetrician at the Brevard County Health Department. Ten days ago, she gave birth to twins. (Aboraya, 10/27)
Los Angeles Times:
More Middle-Class Americans Visit Mexico For Low-Cost Medical Care
A new study from the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that aims to promote a high-performing health care system, revealed that about 23 percent of Americans with coverage are considered underinsured up from 12 percent in 2003 since the inception of Obamacare in 2012. That means roughly 31 million Americans who bought health insurance still have trouble affording treatment under their policies, according to the study. (D'Angelo, 10/27)
