Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Utah's GOP-Controlled House To Hear Medicaid Expansion Plan After All
The Associated Press: Utah House Agrees To Hear Governor's Medicaid Plan
Utah's Republican controlled-House of Representatives has reversed course and decided to consider Gov. Gary Herbert's Medicaid plan, despite comments from the Republican House speaker that the measure had no support and would not be heard. A panel that assigns bills to House committees sent Herbert's Medicaid proposal and a House alternative forward on Tuesday, setting up both proposals for a hearing this week. (Price, 3/3)
KUT: Without Medicaid Flexibility, Texas Republicans Say No To Program's Expansion
Leaders of the Texas Senate have sent a letter to President Barack Obama about Medicaid. It says that if Texas can’t make changes to how it runs Medicaid now, there’ll be no Medicaid expansion for Texas in the future. The Affordable Care Act gives states the option to expand Medicaid to cover more people, or in the case of Texas and some other states, not expand it. (Zaragovia, 3/3)
The Associated Press: N.H. Hospitals Report Fewer Uninsured Patients At ERs
Emergency rooms are seeing fewer uninsured patients since the state expanded its Medicaid program to cover more poor adults, according to the New Hampshire Hospital Association. The plan passed by the Legislature last year made adults making less than 138 percent of the federal poverty limit – about $15,856 a year – eligible for Medicaid, and more than 35,000 have signed up since enrollment began July 1. (3/4)
Kaiser Health News: No Medicaid Expansion? No Problem For Many Safety-Net Hospital Profits
Hospitals that treat many poor and uninsured patients were expected to face tough financial times in states that did not expand Medicaid under the federal law known as Obamacare. That’s because they would get less Medicare and Medicaid funding under the Affordable Care Act, while still having to provide high levels of charity care. (Galewitz, 3/4)
Other media look at a special enrollment period in Connecticut and GOP support of the law's employer wellness incentives -
Connecticut Mirror: Access Health Offers Special April Enrollment For Health Coverage
Access Health CT, the state's insurance exchange, said Tuesday it will hold a special enrollment period for those who did not have health insurance in 2014 and, as a result, paid a penalty on their federal income taxes. The special enrollment, which will run from April 1 through midnight April 30, will allow the uninsured who sign up to limit penalties on their 2015 taxes. (3/3)
The Hill: GOP Looks To Protect Employer Wellness Programs In Obamacare
Republicans are trying to fend off a legal attack against one of the few pieces of ObamaCare that has achieved bipartisan support in Congress. A half-dozen Republicans in the House and Senate introduced legislation Tuesday to protect an employee wellness program that discounts healthcare costs for workers who demonstrate healthy lifestyles. (Ferris, 3/3)
