Category: US Governors

Trump Adviser Kellyanne Conway Says Obamacare – Penalty’ Will End

Kellyanne Conway, a key adviser to President Donald Trump, said the new administration plans to end the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that most people have health insurance, a step that could destabilize the law’s markets. Conway, in an interview airing Sunday on NBC News’ “Sunday Today With Willie Geist,” appeared to indicate that the law’s requirement that most employers offer coverage to their full-time workers would also end.

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New York governor Andrew Cuomo s is requiring health insurance companies to cover medically necessary abortions and most forms of contraception at no cost to women. The regulations are an effort to safeguard protections women currently receive under the Affordable Care Act.

Editorial: KanCare problems never seem to end

… . The Jan. 13 letter was written by James Scott, CMS associate regional administrator for Medicaid and Children’s Health Operation, and he summarized the agency’s concerns: “The results of our on-site review confirm that Kansas is substantively out …

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.

University of California’s Napolitano in hospital for cancer

University of California President Janet Napolitano, a former U.S. Homeland Security secretary, has been undergoing cancer treatment for five months and has been hospitalized after suffering complications, the school system said Tuesday. The UC Office of the President said Napolitano, 59, was diagnosed last August but did not say what type of cancer she has or respond to inquiries seeking further details.

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.

Will Brownback fill revenue pothole?

… that good (even great) politics and good government aren’t the same. Good government keeps the schools, roads, health care, and the poor taken care of. Good politics boils down to not inconveniencing your voter base. That’s something that is a …

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Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s warning to the Democrat-led Legislature not to move forward with legalizing marijuana is going mostly unheeded. But as the governor charges full-steam ahead with a program to battle drug addiction that got a warm reception from Democratic leaders, he’s getting pushback when it comes to marijuana.

Questions surround proposal to consolidate school health benefits

Little information is available on the potential effects for tens of thousands of teachers of consolidating their health insurance into a single statewide system. Gov. Sam Brownback included the health insurance proposal in his budget this week, in hopes of saving the state $40 million in fiscal 2018 and twice as much in years after that.

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.

The Latest: Icy weather causes flight cancellations

Oklahoma City’s largest airport says some flights are being canceled due to icy conditions but the airport remains open as freezing rain moves across much of the Southern Plains. Will Rogers World Airport spokesman Josh Ryan says Southwest Airlines canceled five flights on Friday but that other airlines are operating a normal schedule.

How Democrats Can Defeat the Repeal of Obamacare

… can win, if they’re smart about it. As Republicans themselves are now realizing, it’s easy to criticize a complex health-care law when the other party is getting blamed for everything anyone doesn’t like about the system, but it’s a lot harder to …

In Wisconsin, signs of GOP softening on medical marijuana

As a marijuana extract used to treat seizures is more widely embraced, the conversation in Wisconsin is shifting to whether the time is right to approve medical marijuana. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters last week he would consider it, even as Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Gov. Scott Walker say no way.

Gov. Pence gives farewell address to Hoosiers

… from Evansville to Indianapolis. Our innovative Healthy Indiana Plan is a national model of how to provide affordable health care coverage to our most vulnerable citizens. Hoosiers are proving we can improve healthcare and drive down costs with …