Newly Insured Treasure Medicaid, But Growing Pains Felt
People newly covered by the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion appreciate their insurance. But seeing specialists is still a hurdle for many.
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People newly covered by the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion appreciate their insurance. But seeing specialists is still a hurdle for many.
The Census Bureau reports that the uninsured rate fell from 13.3 percent of the population to 10.4 percent. Still 33 million people had no insurance.
Many Native Americans rely entirely on free care from the financially strapped Indian Health Service. Advocates say signing up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act can broaden their choices.
Opponents of a state plan to move tens of thousands of seriously ill or disabled children into Medicaid managed care plans applaud the move to postpone the transfer.
A surge in Medicaid enrollment drove down the uninsured rate in Colorado from 15.8 percent to 6.7 percent.
By 2030, nearly one-third of all inmates will be over 55, the ACLU says, and caring for aged prisoners often costs twice as much as caring for younger ones. Some states – New York, California and Connecticut -- are confronting the problem, however, with innovative programs meant to improve care and save money.
State officials say Medi-Cal managed care plans will better coordinate treatment for children needing highly specialized care. Parents and pediatric medical centers say it’s a bad idea.
New research finds that patients who repeatedly use costly hospital and emergency room services, known often as super-utilizers or frequent fliers, generally don’t seek such intense care for a lifetime but instead for a short period of time.
Many in Iowa get Medicaid -- the state-federal health program for poorer Americans -- especially after the state expanded the program under the federal health law. But a plan to switch administration of the program to private health care companies has patients worried that their care will suffer.
On Medicare's 50th birthday, two brothers who helped get it off the ground tell their stories. A younger member of the Lee family is at the helm of Covered California, the state insurance exchange.
The federal-state health care program covers nearly half of all births, one-third of children across the country and two-thirds of people in nursing homes.
The proposed rules, released in advance of the White House Conference on Aging, cover wide-ranging topics, from meals to roommate selection to staff training.
The state is proposing to require people to pay a premium of up to 2 percent of their income, but the Obama administration has generally insisted that people earning under the poverty level not be charged a fee.
The budget deal announced by Gov. Jerry Brown last month grants Medicaid coverage to young Californian immigrants who are in the state without legal permission. Now comes the push for coverage of their parents and other adults.
Researchers report in the journal Health Affairs that doctors are less likely to include some preventive care services in appointments with women covered by Medicaid than in those with women who are privately insured.
Highly effective drugs for Hepatitis C patients in California’s Medicaid program, prisons and hospitals could cost the state billions, an insurance-industry sponsored study found.
After Supreme Court’s ruling, the HHS secretary says the administration faces challenges to enroll more people in marketplace plans and expand Medicaid.
In its first five years, the Affordable Care Act has survived technical meltdowns, a presidential election, two Supreme Court challenges -- including one resolved Thursday -- and dozens of repeal efforts in Congress. But its long-term future still isn’t ensured. Here are five of the biggest hurdles left for the law.
Property owners in Dallas County, Texas, paid more than $467 million in taxes last year to Parkland Health and Hospital System, the county’s only public hospital, to provide medical care to the poor and uninsured. If Texas had expanded Medicaid, that amount would have been lower.
The problems with managed care plans, documented in a recent state audit, stem from meteoric enrollment growth and lack of oversight, experts say.
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