Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump's Proposed Plan To Penalize Immigrants For Using Medicaid Could Be Winning GOP Talking Point On Trail
The New York Times: Plan To Punish Immigrants For Using Welfare Could Boost G.O.P. Candidates
The Trump administration is advancing a plan to punish legal immigrants for accepting food stamps, public housing and other government benefits they are entitled to — a strategy that appeals to conservatives and could help to galvanize Republican voters before the midterm elections. The proposed rule first surfaced last year. Last month, the White House Office of Management and Budget published a notice that it was under consideration. A Trump administration official said Tuesday that details of the proposal were still weeks away from being finalized and made public. (Shear and Nixon, 8/7)
WBUR: Are Immigrants Health Care Moochers? On The Contrary, Boston Researchers Say
The Trump Administration is considering an executive order that would bar new immigrants deemed likely to draw on public benefits and prevent those already here from achieving permanent legal resident status if they do. ...Undocumented immigrants make up five percent of the population, but account for only 1.4 percent of health care spending. (Knox, 8/8)
Marketplace: Arkansas Phasing In Work Requirements For Those On Medicaid
Arkansas is at the forefront of a national experiment to see whether requiring work for health care coverage helps lift people out of poverty. So far, the state’s plan has seen low compliance among beneficiaries who may soon see themselves fall off the Medicaid rolls. (Whites-Koitschek, 8/7)
CQ: Some States Aim To Make Medicaid Jobs Programs Voluntary
More than a dozen states are courting controversy by trying to make people work to keep their Medicaid coverage. But one state is seeing results by taking a decidedly less contentious approach to helping people find jobs — creating a voluntary, not mandatory, program. Montana began its voluntary work program in 2016, under a bipartisan deal to expand Medicaid under the health care law to roughly 94,000 adults. Since then, more than 22,000 people have received employment services, according to the state’s Department of Labor and Industry. Some 78 percent of participants who were unemployed in 2016 found jobs after completing the program. (Williams, 8/8)
Des Moines Register: Reynolds Drops Iowa Medicaid Adviser Who Spoke Up For Disabled People
Gov. Kim Reynolds has dropped an outspoken Medicaid adviser who repeatedly voiced concerns about how private management companies were treating Iowans with disabilities. David Hudson spent two years as co-chairman of Iowa's Medical Assistance Advisory Council, whose duties include monitoring the state's shift to private management of its $5 billion Medicaid program. (Leys, 8/7)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Mike DeWine Announces Wellness Program For State Employees, Medicaid Recipients As Part Of Campaign For Ohio Governor
If elected governor, Mike DeWine said Tuesday he will start a wellness program aimed at trying to drive down the state government's long-term health-care costs. DeWine, the Republican state attorney general, said he would start off by rolling out the voluntary wellness program, modeled after a similar plan used by the Cleveland Clinic, for state employees and retirees. But eventually, he said he'd like it to apply it to the roughly 700,000 poor, working Ohioans covered under Medicaid expansion. (Tobias, 8/7)
