Medicaid and the Uninsured: Nov. 23, 2022

California Aims to Maximize Health Insurance Subsidies for Workers During Labor Disputes

Annie Sciacca

Workers who lose employer-based health coverage during a strike or lockout will have access to a full-subsidy plan through Covered California.

After Election Win, California’s AG Turns to Investigating Hospital Algorithms for Racial Bias

Mark Kreidler

Attorney General Rob Bonta handily won election on a progressive, social justice platform. He’s already begun with an inquiry into hospital software programs that might bake in racial discrimination.

Centene Showers Politicians With Millions as It Courts Contracts and Settles Overbilling Allegations

Samantha Young and Andy Miller and Rebecca Grapevine

Centene, the largest Medicaid managed-care company in the U.S., has thrown more than $26.9 million at political campaigns across the country since 2015, especially focused on states where it is wooing Medicaid contracts and settling accusations that it overbilled taxpayers. Among its tactics: Centene is skirting contribution limits by giving to candidates through its many subsidiaries.

This Open Enrollment Season, Look Out for Health Insurance That Seems Too Good to Be True

Bram Sable-Smith

Complaints about misleading health insurance marketing are soaring. State insurance commissioners are taking notice. They’ve created a shared internal database to monitor questionable business practices, and, in the future, they hope to provide a public-facing resource for consumers. In the meantime, consumers should shop wisely as open enrollment season begins.

Stopping the Churn: Why Some States Want to Guarantee Medicaid Coverage From Birth to Age 6

Phil Galewitz

Oregon has become the first state to allow kids to stay in the government health care program from birth to age 6, no matter if their household income changes. California, Washington, and New Mexico are pursuing similar policies.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: ACA Open Enrollment Without the Drama

The Affordable Care Act’s 10th annual open-enrollment period began Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 15, 2023, in most states. But for the first time, the health law seems to be enrolling Americans with far less controversy than in previous years. Meanwhile, as Election Day approaches, Democrats are focusing on GOP efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Julie Appleby of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Arthur Allen, who wrote the latest KNH-NPR Bill of the Month, about an old but still very expensive cancer drug.

South Dakota Voters Approved Medicaid Expansion, but Implementation May Not Be Easy

Arielle Zionts

South Dakotans voted to expand the state’s Medicaid program to cover thousands of additional low-income residents. But as other conservative states have shown, voter approval doesn’t always mean politicians and administrators will rush to implement the change.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Midterm Shake-Up

Election night went better than expected for Democrats. Although they could still lose control of one or both houses of Congress, the predicted “red wave” for Republicans failed to materialize. Meanwhile, voters in both red and blue states approved ballot measures to protect abortion rights. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Carolee Lee, the former jewelry magnate, about her efforts to boost gender equity in medical research.

California Stockpiles Penalties From Uninsured Residents Instead of Lowering Care Costs

Angela Hart

California is collecting hundreds of millions of dollars a year in tax penalties from uninsured residents. The state was supposed to use the money to help lower costs for Californians who couldn’t afford insurance but hasn’t distributed any of the revenue it has collected — citing uncertain economic times.

Ambulance Company to Halt Some Rides in Southern California, Citing Low Medicaid Rates

Sarah Kwon

American Medical Response, the largest U.S. ambulance company, is ending nonemergency transportation for 12 hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties, saying the state doesn’t pay enough to transport low-income patients. The state is pushing back.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: No Money, No Job, No Health Care? Not Always.

Dan Weissmann

For many Americans, it’s open enrollment season for 2023 health insurance. One listener asked: If you don’t have a job and are too old to be on your parents’ plan, does it make sense to rely on charity care? This episode breaks it all down.

How Optimism Can Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap

Phil Galewitz and Daniel Chang

Low-income residents in states that haven’t expanded Medicaid are in a tough spot: They don’t qualify for the subsidies that people with slightly higher incomes get to buy marketplace plans because of a glitch in the federal health law. But a court decision last year makes it easier for them to make good-faith estimates of a pay increase, and there is no financial penalty if they don’t hit that figure.

Path Cleared for Georgia to Launch Work Requirements for Medicaid

Andy Miller and Sam Whitehead

Federal officials have apparently stopped fighting Georgia’s plan for a limited Medicaid expansion that includes work requirements. The plan, a key policy of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s, would cover a much smaller portion of the population: those who can work or volunteer 80 hours a month.

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