Haley Barbour Draws Fire For Medicaid Changes In Mississippi
Mississippi Gov. Barbour's ways to control the rising costs of Medicaid are sometimes controversial, but he maintains that states need more freedom to run the program.
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Mississippi Gov. Barbour's ways to control the rising costs of Medicaid are sometimes controversial, but he maintains that states need more freedom to run the program.
House Republicans cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood and other Title X programs, and Senate Democrats tried to restore it. But the Senate Wednesday failed to pass either bill and so the programs, which once had strong bipartisan support, remain a point of contention.
Florida's annual Medicaid bill runs in the billions - it's nearly one-third of the state's budget. As Florida struggles to close a budget shortfall of $4.5 billion, Medicaid is a target for cuts. Often, that means moving Medicaid recipients into managed care.
Doctors and hospitals raise concerns that reducing eligibility may spur ER crowding and premium increases, but experience in Missouri shows less dire consequences.
What truly undermines the arguments offered by conservative critics is their lack of workable alternative ideas that would achieve the health insurance coverage expansion goals set by the health law.
Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., renewed GOP calls for block grants to states to pay for Medicaid costs.
The recession-fueled state budget crisis has turned Medicaid into the next battleground in the ongoing war over President Obama's signature health care reform law.
Medicaid is the rope in the current tug of war between the states and the federal government over health reform. So far, the feds think they are winning. But don't discount the governors.
A sampling of Medicaid changes some state chief executives would advance if they were given more flexibility from the federal government. This issue is likely to be a hot topic this weekend as the governors convene in Washington, D.C. for their winter meeting.
Democrats say Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to tackle a two-year $3.6 billion deficit by making speedy changes in health care programs needs wider scrutiny.
Melanie Bella heads the new federal office that seeks to help people whose coverage is often fragmented because they qualify for both programs and to save the government money by streamlining that coverage.
The Obama administration is dispatching aides to states to offer advice on holding down spending on the program for the poor.
Some patient advocates, as well as the nursing home industry, object to using managed care for such vulnerable patients, but health plans say they can provide quality services while holding down costs.
The Lone Star State isn't seeking to opt out of Medicaid anymore, but it's joining other states in pressing Washington for more flexibility in running the program.
Federal officials are walking a fine line trying to satisfy the demands of budget-strapped governors who want to cut their Medicaid programs.
The conservative group FreedomWorks recommends a system of vouchers to replace Medicare, Medicaid and provisions of the new health law.
The president chose to submit a profoundly unserious budget. There's no entitlement reform to close the long-term fiscal gap. There's no tax reform. There are some minor cuts to marginal programs for show. But, overall, it's very much a business-as-usual budget, with a few new and expensive long-term commitments thrown in for good measure. It's like the president and his team woke up after the mid-term election with a bad case of political amnesia.
In his 2012 budget, the president proposed a two-year, $54 billion solution to stop the scheduled cuts to doctors who treat Medicare patients. The plan draws on savings from a variety of sources, including states, drug makers
The nation's leaders must slog through the complexities and ideologies of the current political landscape in order to craft solutions that will shore up the American safety net and protect its weakest citizens.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are at risk of losing access to health services as states prepare to make yet another round of budget cuts.
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