Category: Medicaid

Judge temporarily blocks Planned Parenthood’s ouster from Texas Medicaid

After three days of testimony from attorneys for the state and Planned Parenthood, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks is letting the reproductive health provider stay in Medicaid until Feb. 21. U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks on Thursday delayed Planned Parenthood’s ouster from the state’s Medicaid program until Feb. 21. The decision comes after three days of testimony and arguments in the U.S. District Court in Austin. The reproductive health provider initially sued more than a year ago, but that lawsuit sat dormant until Dec. 20, when the Texas Health and Human Services Commission put Planned Parenthood on notice that its Medicaid funding would end.

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California officials on Wednesday withdrew their request to sell unsubsidized insurance policies to people who can’t prove they’re legally in the United States after learning the decision would fall to President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. Calling the decision “the first California casualty of the Trump presidency,” Sen. Ricardo Lara said he doesn’t trust the incoming administration to protect people’s privacy and health.

HHS nominee Price sees ‘access’ to coverage as health reform goal – Wed, 18 Jan 2017 PST

Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services and one of Congress’s most vehement critics of the Affordable Care Act, told senators on Wednesday that “it is absolutely imperative” for the government to ensure that all Americans “have the opportunity to gain access” to insurance coverage – a more modest goal than the incoming president has set forth in recent days. In a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee committee, Price laid out the central elements of his years-long attempt to replace the ACA along conservative lines.

Trump’s health pick set to defend investments at U.S. Senate hearing

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for health secretary was expected to face hard questions from a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday about his personal stock investments and proposals to dismantle Obamacare. Representative Tom Price, a Georgia orthopedic surgeon who has been in politics for more than 20 years, was chosen by fellow Republican Trump, who will become president on Friday, to head an agency that manages scores of healthcare programs.

Snyder highlights aging infrastructure, Medicaid expansion

Gov. Rick Snyder called Tuesday for addressing Michigan’s aging infrastructure over the next several decades, citing the Flint water crisis that has roiled his administration and a football field-sized sinkhole that formed recently in suburban Detroit. In his seventh annual State of the State address to lawmakers, the Republican also touted the state’s Medicaid expansion, which has provided health insurance to 600,000 low-income adults but which is in jeopardy as the GOP-led Congress seeks to repeal the federal health care law.

GAO Marshalls Its Data to Warn Leaders of Fiscal Crisis

Set apart with an atypically colorful cover designed around a compass, the first-ever annual report on fiscal health from the Government Accountability Office warns the incoming president and congressional leaders that federal finances remain on an “unsustainable long-term fiscal path.” The 47-page compilation done in cooperation with the Congressional Budget Office combines the latest alarming macro-numbers with calls for action by Congress as well as specific remedies that can be undertaken by agency managers.

Baker budget could include employer penalty for uninsured workers

Companies that do not offer their employees health insurance would pay a $2,000 annual assessment per full-time worker to the state under a plan Gov. Charlie Baker plans to offer later this month to blunt the impact of escalating, enrollment-driven costs in the state’s Medicaid program, the State House News Service has learned.

Baker plans $2,000 employer assessment to address health costs

Companies that do not offer their employees health insurance would pay a $2,000 annual assessment per full-time worker to the state under a plan Gov. Charlie Baker plans to offer later this month to blunt the impact of escalating, enrollment-driven costs in the state’s Medicaid program, the State House News Service has learned. The proposal — the bulk of which is expected to be filed within the governor’s budget due on Jan 25 — would also impose growth caps on the rates health providers can charge for medical services in an effort to control the cost of care in the commercial market and make it more affordable for employers.

Washington Post: A prescription for disaster

… or tighten rules that discourage people from signing up only when they are sick, for example. On top of an improved health care system, the GOP could most likely get some Democratic votes for this approach. If Republicans went on to call that repeal …

I-10: Ten Things to Know in New Orleans this Week

That expansion, which took effect last July, has resulted in more than 378,000 newly insured Louisianans, according to figures provided by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals , whose director, Dr. Rebekah Gee, also spoke at the press conference. Refusing the Medicaid expansion was a cornerstone of former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration, while Edwards had made it a campaign plank.

Trump Promises ‘Insurance For Everybody’

President-elect Donald Trump says his proposal to replace Obamacare will guarantee “insurance for everybody” and “great health care” that is “much less expensive and much better.” Here’s more from the Washington Post ‘s interview with Trump : As he has developed a replacement package, Trump said he has paid attention to critics who say that repealing Obamacare would put coverage at risk for more than 20 million Americans covered under the law’s insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion.

Trump promises health care ‘for everybody’

President-elect Donald Trump wants health “insurance for everybody,” he told The Washington Post, no small feat in a country where millions are uninsured. The Republican has long lashed out at President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act, campaigning on a pledge to repeal and replace it.

Trump: ‘Insurance for everybody’ in plan

President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Barack Obama’s signature health care law with the goal of “insurance for everybody,” while also vowing to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid.

Trump vows – insurance for everybody’ in Obamacare replacement plan

President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law with the goal of ”insurance for everybody,” while also vowing to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid. Trump declined to reveal specifics in the telephone interview late Saturday with The Washington Post, but any proposals from the incoming president would almost certainly dominate the Republican effort to overhaul federal health policy as he prepares to work with his party’s congressional majorities.

Trump vows ‘insurance for everybody’ in ACA replacement plan

President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law with the goal of “insurance for everybody,” while also vowing to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid. Trump declined to reveal specifics in the telephone interview late Saturday with The Washington Post, but any proposals from the incoming president would almost certainly dominate the Republican effort to overhaul federal health policy as he prepares to work with his party’s congressional majorities.

Donors help 108-year-old woman stay in home

Carrie Lou Rausch, 108, has been in an assisted living facility for almost three years, but her funds to remain there were running dry. Since her home in Columbus, Ohio, doesn’t accept Medicaid, Rausch faced a problem unless she came up with some more money.

Opinion Line

Thanks to Wichita, I will not become too affluent with my 0.3 percent cost-of-living increase from Social Security. The increase in water and sewer rates will make sure I stay on a healthy diet of Meow Mix.

Opinion Line

Thanks to Wichita, I will not become too affluent with my 0.3 percent cost-of-living increase from Social Security. The increase in water and sewer rates will make sure I stay on a healthy diet of Meow Mix.

Obamacare is a hard act to follow

… for all Americans that could garner broad support won’t work. Plans that would work can’t garner broad support. Health care in the United States is extremely costly, the issue of how coverage ought to be paid for is divisive, and attempts like …

Obamacare is a hard act to follow

… for all Americans that could garner broad support won’t work. Plans that would work can’t garner broad support. Health care in the United States is extremely costly, the issue of how coverage ought to be paid for is divisive, and attempts like …