Medicaid: Wis. program facing $141 million shortfall

Supporters of a proposed Connecticut health plan for poor adults say it should be implemented soon to help support state efforts to expand coverage under the federal health law in 2014. Also, a report in Wisconsin finds that the Medicaid program will run short of funds over the next year and a half.

The CT Mirror: Health Reform Choice: For Those Just Above Medicaid Limit, Private Insurance Or A State-Run Plan?
Advocates for low-income residents want the state to create a new health program for poor adults who don't get Medicaid coverage, and they say legislators must commit to doing so this year to make it work as part of federal health reform. "We should take this opportunity and we need to take it now," Jane McNichol, executive director of the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut, ... said the plan, an option available to states under federal health reform, could provide affordable health care coverage to 75,000 to 95,000 low-income residents and, if structured right, be affordable for the state (Levin Becker, 2/1).

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: State Medicaid Programs Face $141 Million Shortfall, Report Says 
Wisconsin's health programs for the poor have a $141 million shortfall in state money over the next year and a half, new estimates show. So far, GOP Gov. Scott Walker's administration has saving plans that would more than cover that potential deficit in the state's Medicaid health programs. But a new report by the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office questions whether all of the saving will materialize (Stein, 1/31).

In other Medicaid news:

Medscape: Judge Blocks 10% Medicaid Cut For Physicians In California
A federal judge in Los Angeles [Monday] temporarily blocked a 10% cut in Medicaid reimbursement rates in California for physicians, dentists, and other providers, saying that the reduction could cause too many of them to close their doors to beneficiaries. In her ruling, US District Judge Christina Snyder wrote that the Obama administration approved the rate reduction for Medi-Cal -; the name of California's Medicaid program -; without adequately evaluating its effect on either providers or patients as required by law (Lowes, 1/31).

Kansas Health Institute: No Information Released On KanCare Bidders
The first of two deadlines for Medicaid managed care proposals to be submitted to Kansas purchasing officials was today. But no information about the KanCare bidders will be released until the second and final filing deadline, which is next month. Feb. 22 is when interested companies must have turned in the financial information accompanying the plan proposals submitted today (1/31).