Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas Lawmakers Push For Answers About Medicaid Program's Failure To Care For Medically Vulnerable Patients
Texas Tribune: Lawmakers Focus On Flaws In Texas Medicaid Program After Dallas Morning News Investigation
State lawmakers spent hours Wednesday pressing state officials, along with private companies that manage health care for Medicaid recipients, about a recent investigation by The Dallas Morning News that revealed how Texas is failing to provide care to some of its most medically vulnerable citizens. The House Human Services Committee met to discuss the state's managed care program, in which Texas hires companies to coordinate care for Texans on Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program. The newspaper report found that Medicaid managed care companies withhold patient care and medical equipment under a system that pays them a flat fee for every Texan in the program. (Greene, 6/20)
The CT Mirror: Medicaid Transportation Firm Fined For Long Wait-Times For Pick-Ups
Veyo, Connecticut’s non-emergency medical transportation contractor, has been fined $4,000 for having Medicaid patients waiting over an hour for pick-ups, or not showing up at all. The state Department of Social Services sent Veyo four letters in May and June detailing the fines. (Rigg, 6/20)
POLITICO Pro: Study: Few Indiana Medicaid Enrollees Making Consistent HSA Payments
Only one-third of Medicaid expansion enrollees in Indiana were making the regular payments into health savings accounts that are a cornerstone of the state’s conservative Obamacare program, according to new research from the Harvard School of Public Health. The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Health Affairs, raise larger questions about whether alternative Medicaid expansion approaches that states are increasingly seeking would impose undue burdens on enrollees, as well as whether they are achieving the goal of making low-income adults more educated about their health care choices. (Pradhan, 6/20)
