Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas Supreme Court Allows Medicaid To Cut Therapists Pay For Disabled Children
Texas Tribune: Texas Supreme Court Allows Medicaid Cuts To Children's Therapy To Proceed
A significant cut to the amount of money Texas pays therapists who treat children with disabilities was finally cleared to take effect — more than one year after state lawmakers originally ordered it — when the Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear a lawsuit over the budget cut's legality. (Walters, 9/23)
Dallas Morning News: Court Will Let Texas Cut Medicaid Payments To Therapists For Disabled Children
Last year, the Legislature approved $350 million in Medicaid cuts, mostly toward therapy providers for disabled children. Opponents of the cuts warned that they would disrupt care for tens of thousands of disabled children, especially in rural areas of Texas. The high court temporarily blocked the cuts a week before they were scheduled to take place in July 2015. A state appeals court in April of this year ruled that providers and patients lacked jurisdiction to sue. The Supreme Court did not offer an explanation for its decision to allow the appeals court's ruling to stand. (Ketterer, 9/23)
Sarasota (Fla.) Herald Tribune: Medicaid Transition Causes Hardship
Born three months prematurely, Wyatt has struggled every day of his 22 months. But after nearly a year in the neonatal intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, continuous surgeries and in-home therapies covered by the Children’s Medical Services Medicaid program, Wyatt’s condition has vastly improved. Yet the program that the Ipes expected would help continue his recovery is in turmoil. In an effort to cut costs and scale down the program for children with special health care needs, lawmakers and administrators at the Florida Department of Health have laid off hundreds of department employees and disqualified nearly 13,000 previously eligible children. (Clark, 9/24)
Modern Healthcare: Only 11 Medicaid Managed-Care Plans Have More Than 1 Million Members
Consolidation in the insurance industry means Medicaid beneficiaries have fewer coverage options under managed care, according to a new analysis from PWC. Following the 26% growth in Medicaid over the past two years due, in part to expansion under the Affordable Care Act, 75.2 million Americans, or 23.4% of the nation's population, are now enrolled in the Medicaid program. Of those, 73% are now in private plans; that's up from 55% in 2013. (Dickson, 9/23)
Forbes: Insurers Add 3 Million Medicaid Patients Despite Election-Year Gridlock
The expansion of Medicaid benefits, thanks largely to the Affordable Care Act, helped increase enrollment in private health plans by 3.4 million in the last year, according to a new report from consulting firm PwC. Managed-care plans are taking on an unprecedented role in providing health coverage to poor Americans thanks in part to more states opting to go along with the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. (Japsen, 9/23)
