States grappling with Medicaid uncertainty, costs, decisions

Some states are preparing for the health law's 2014 Medicaid expansion.

Stateline:  States Push To Contain Health Costs
States spent a nervous spring this year wondering how the Supreme Court would rule on the Affordable Care Act. They are still wondering. But despite the uncertainty, they managed to write a good deal of health legislation, especially when it came to Medicaid. ... Some continued the pattern of Medicaid spending reductions that marked the past few years, while others were in a mood to restore earlier cuts they had made. Some even expanded coverage. Overall, the health care budget picture in the states is brighter than it has been in a while (Vestal, 6/15).

Market Watch: Aetna Calls For Ohio Medicaid Contract Renewal
Aetna Inc. is protesting an Ohio agency for the cancellation of its Medicaid health plan contract, saying undisclosed communication with other bidders swayed the state's decision to drop the insurer. Aetna argues that the Ohio Department of Job and Family Service retrospectively changed its initial requirements, resulting in its decision to drop the insurer from its list of five Medicaid health plans that will serve the state starting Jan. 1 (Stilwell, 6/15).

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Medicaid Decision Looms For Va. In Health Care Debate
With an estimated 1 million Virginians uninsured, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would make up to 425,000 people in the state eligible for Medicaid health coverage beginning on Jan. 1, 2014. As the U.S. Supreme Court nears a decision, ... Virginia is preparing for an outcome that would leave most of the act intact, even if the "individual mandate," requiring that almost all Americans have insurance, is overturned (Martz, 6/17).

Minneapolis Star Tribune: On Trial: Minnesota Medicaid
It began with a $30 million "voluntary contribution" to Minnesota taxpayers from one of the state's nonprofit Medicaid contractors, an unprecedented act of corporate generosity that raised eyebrows from St. Paul to Washington. ... Whether any of that amounted to fraud is now the focus of at least three federal probes, two by congressional Republicans and one by the Justice Department. Officials in the Dayton and Pawlenty administrations say they have done nothing wrong. Industry executives likewise deny that the health plans are overpaid (Diaz, 6/16).