Medicaid News and Research

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Medicaid is the United States health program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the states and federal government, and is managed by the states.

Friday face-off: With gov't shutdown looming, House to vote on stopgap funding measure that would defund health law

The GOP-controlled chamber is expected to approve the bill, which will then face stiff opposition in the Senate. The White House has also threatened a veto.

21 Sep 2013

Specialty asthma care no benefit to adherence in underserved children

Results of a study of underserved children with asthma in the USA suggest that they may be losing out on the benefits of specialty care.

20 Sep 2013

First Edition: September 20, 2013

Today's headlines include the latest on the Capitol Hill hijinx surrounding efforts to defund the health law and avert a government shutdown.

20 Sep 2013

Reprieve over? Health spending projected to climb 6% next year

The nation's health care spending is slated to rise about 6 percent next year, according to a new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report. This follows five years of slower growth expected to end as the nation's economy recovers and the health law expands coverage. The spending increase is likely lower than it would have been, however, if the Supreme Court hadn't allowed states to choose whether to expand Medicaid, researchers wrote.

20 Sep 2013

States hammering out Medicaid decisions on qualifications, expansion

In news about state Medicaid expansions, a hospital association in Missouri explores the state's place nationally and globally in caring for its poor. Elsewhere, Pennsylvania could require those out-of-work and on Medicaid to look for a job, and South Dakota mulls expanding the program.

20 Sep 2013

State highlights: Penn State ends health plan penalty

After weeks of vociferous objections by faculty members, Pennsylvania State University said on Wednesday it was suspending part of a new employee wellness program that some professors had criticized as coercive and financially punitive (Singer, 9/18).

20 Sep 2013

Inovalon, Walgreens sign agreement to bring innovative solutions to healthcare marketplace

Inovalon, Inc., a leading provider of data-driven healthcare solutions, and Walgreens, the nation's largest drugstore chain, today announced that they have entered into a multi-year agreement to provide Inovalon's data-driven encounter support platform, Electronic Patient Assessment Solution Suite within Healthcare Clinic at select Walgreens to support improvements in managed care quality and performance.

19 Sep 2013

First Edition: September 19, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about future health spending projections from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Actuaries as well as the latest on the upcoming House vote on a stopgap funding measure that would also defund the health law.

19 Sep 2013

Gentiva, Harden enter into definitive merger agreement

Gentiva Health Services, Inc., the largest provider of home health and hospice services in the United States based on revenue, and Harden Healthcare Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of home health, hospice and community care services, announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby Gentiva will acquire Harden.

19 Sep 2013

State highlights: Miss. officials want more money for mental health, Medicaid; Okla. Gov. blocks same-sex benefits; Mass. primary care shortage

Mississippi's prison and mental health systems and Medicaid program are seeking millions of extra dollars to get through the budget year, then more money on top of that for the coming year. Agency leaders appeared Tuesday before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to request money for fiscal year 2014, which ends June 30, and for fiscal 2015, which begins July 1 (9/17).

19 Sep 2013

CBO issues not-so-rosy long-term budget outlook

In the short term, the federal deficit will fall. But, starting in 2016, as more baby boomers join the Medicare ranks, the deficits again will pick up. With this news in the backdrop, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned Republican lawmakers of the dangers of risking a government default as part of their efforts to derail the implementation of the health law.

19 Sep 2013

Percentage of Americans without health coverage drops for 2nd year

The small decline was credited mainly to somewhat higher enrollments in Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the Children's Health Insurance Program.

19 Sep 2013

Viewpoints: Deep flaws in current health system often overlooked in Obamacare debate; 'Missouri bleeds jobs' while neighbors expand Medicaid; budget debate is best shot at stopping health law

Americans have had little understanding of the Affordable Care Act since it became law in 2010. With major provisions taking effect in January, half the country still does not know what the law does or what it means for them. While some of the confusion is no doubt due to the law's complexity and the highly charged political environment, a largely ignored but central factor is that people know little about the deeply flawed health insurance system that got us to this place (John Seffrin and Jim Guest, 9/17).

19 Sep 2013

First Edition: September 18, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the Census Bureau's latest figures on the nation's uninsured as well as Congressional Budget Office long-term deficit projections and how that news fits into events in the ongoing Capitol Hill budget battles.

18 Sep 2013

A cost-effective approach to California's mammography screening program

When public health budgets are constrained, mammography screening should begin later and occur less frequently, a cost-effectiveness analysis for California's Every Woman Counts (EWC) program concludes.

18 Sep 2013

Study: Rate of California ED visits higher among adult Medicaid beneficiaries

Emergency department (ED) use has been affected by insurance patterns over time and will likely be further affected by expansions of coverage from health care reform." Uninsured patients are often thought of as high and frequently inappropriate ED users, but insured patients, particularly those with Medicaid coverage, may have difficulties accessing primary care and may rely on EDs more frequently than uninsured patients, write Renee Y. Hsia, M.D., M.Sc., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues.

18 Sep 2013

Medicaid expansion increasingly in vogue with Republican governors

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder are the most recent to express interest, and even support, for the health law's Medicaid expansion.

18 Sep 2013

Emotional stress, cognitive impairment linked to early hospital readmission of heart patients

Heart patients' mental state and thinking abilities may help predict whether costly and potentially dangerous early hospital readmission will follow their release after treatment, according to the results of a significant new study by Henry Ford Hospital researchers.

18 Sep 2013

As the clock ticks down, premium information still elusive in some states

The St. Louis Beacon reports that Missouri consumers will have to wait for the Oct. 1 launch date to get answers about how much the new coverage will cost. Other news outlets offer state-specific coverage of how the marketplaces are taking shape and what types of impact they might have.

18 Sep 2013