Medicaid news: La. preps managed care cuts; Fewer Texas docs accept new patients

The Medicaid program in Louisiana is preparing to cut payments to providers who run its managed care program. In Texas, only 31 percent of doctors take new Medicaid patients, a survey says.

New Orleans Times Picayune: Louisiana Officials Sketch Out Medicaid Payment Cuts
The Louisiana health agency late Friday afternoon detailed Medicaid payment cuts, expected as part of implementing the state operating budget that went into effect July 1, to a range of health care providers and the private insurers that run Bayou Health, the managed-care portion of the giant government insurance program for the poor. For most entities, the cuts range from 1.5 percent to 3.7 percent, though a handful of providers and services take a bigger hit, particularly ambulance services (Barrow, 7/6).

The Associated Press/Houston Chronicle: Texas Docs Cut Back On Poor Patients
The number of Texas doctors willing to accept government-funded health insurance plans for the poor and the elderly is dropping dramatically amid complaints about low pay and red tape, showed a survey by the Texas Medical Association provided to The Associated Press on Sunday before its Monday release. Only 31 percent of Texas doctors said they were accepting new patients who rely on Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and disabled. In 2010, the last time the survey was taken, 42 percent of doctors accepted new Medicaid patients. In 2000, that number was 67 percent (Tomlinson, 7/8).