Medicaid news: Transition in Texas to new managed care plan hurts caregivers; S.C. moves to enroll 65,000 children

Meanwhile, California develops plans to move 875,000 kids from its Healthy Families program to the state's Medicaid rolls.

The Texas Tribune/New York Times: Medicaid Patient Shift Squeezes Home Caregivers
The abrupt exodus of thousands of South Texas Medicaid patients from one managed care health plan is putting a financial strain on home health providers already struggling to stay in business after the state's transition to Medicaid managed care (Aaronson, 10/4).

The Associated Press: 65,000 SC Children To Be Enrolled In Medicaid
South Carolina's Medicaid agency announced Thursday that 65,000 children in the state's poorest households will be automatically enrolled in the government insurance program by month's end. The state Department of Health and Human Services is enrolling children whose parents receive food assistance or welfare payments through the Department of Social Services, meaning their children are well under eligibility limits for Medicaid. The agency is informing parents of the enrollment in letters, starting this week in Richland County. All 65,000 children should be signed up by month's end (Adcox, 10/4).

California Healthline: Ambitious Transition Plan For Health Families
State officials this week submitted a four-phase strategic plan to eventually move 875,000 children from the Healthy Families program into Medi-Cal managed care plans. Health care advocates have expressed some reservations and concerns about the transition. State officials have said they're confident they're ready to meet the deadlines that have been set for it. The new plan hopes to simultaneously improve quality of care for children and save the state money. It will happen quickly. On Jan. 1, the state plans to launch the first phase of the transition, shifting 415,00 of the Healthy Families kids to a managed care plan (Gorn, 10/4).

California Healthline: Why The Future Of Health Care May Be On The Line With Prop. 30
There is a hidden risk buried inside Proposition 30 that goes far beyond cuts to education, according to Hope Richardson, policy analyst for the California Budget Project. … According to a report from the Health and Human Services Network of California, the state has cut $15 billion from health and social service programs in just the past three years. That does not include the budget reductions made this summer, including the planned conversion of Healthy Families to a Medi-Cal managed care program and another $2.5 billion in social service cuts, said Michael Herald, a public benefits advocate for the Western Center on Law and Poverty. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program (Gorn, 10/4).