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Medicaid news: Kansas insurer says 'no' to Medicaid

The state of Kansas' largest insurance company has decided it doesn't want to participate in Gov. Sam Brownback's plan to move Medicaid patients into privatized managed-care programs. In a letter addressed "Dear provider," Angie Strecker, director of institutional relations for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, said the insurer "has decided not to submit a proposal to the state to be a Medicaid contractor."

6 Feb 2012

State roundup: Iowa Senate provides $5M for mental health; UMass health to cut 6% of workforce; Judge considers making Wash. pharmacies sell Plan B

The bill also allocates $5 million more from what is known as the Mental Health Risk Pool. The pool was created about a decade ago to keep counties with financial shortfalls from denying care to people with mental disorders or retardation. Linn County, for example, will receive $1.2 million of the extra money.

3 Feb 2012

Insurance news: Sen. Feinstein supports state review of rate increases; Anthem plans in Colo. and Conn. to pay extra for coordinated care

Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced she is supporting a ballot measure to give California regulators the power to approve health insurance rates. In other news, Blue Shield in California says it will cover an autism behavioral therapy and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Colorado and Connecticut announce plans to pay doctors for coordinating care.

3 Feb 2012

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.

2 Feb 2012

Lawmakers in Conn., Calif. ready public option, single-payer bills

Lawmakers in Connecticut are considering re-introducing a bill for a public option for health insurance that died last year in the legislature. Similarly in California, state lawmakers are pushing a single-payer bill that died in the legislature last year.

1 Feb 2012

State roundup: Iowa reconsiders lawmakers' benefits

Two bills introduced in the Iowa House last week would curtail benefits for lawmakers. ... House File 2118 also removes per diem and daily allowances from inclusion in lawmakers' pension calculations, but also requires members and employees of the General Assembly to pay a portion of their health-insurance premiums. That premium payment would have to be at least $100 a month.

1 Feb 2012

States roundup: 'Cost-conscious' coverage in Mass.; Health exchange planning to Gov. in Minn.; Kansas judges gave to anti-abortion PAC

In just three years, a new way of paying for medical care has spread rapidly across Massachusetts, and now more than 1.2 million people are covered by plans that put providers on a budget in an effort to restrain health spending.

30 Jan 2012

State roundup: Conn. home worker demand soars; Family planning providers dwindle in Texas; Florida legislation on health budgets, prices, abortion

Ensuring that there are enough direct care workers to meet the growing demand is one of the most significant challenges facing state officials as they try to dramatically expand the availability of home-based long-term care. ... Home care work is often sensitive, challenging and poorly compensated.

27 Jan 2012

Boston Children's, Blue Cross reach deal to curb payments; Jackson hospital, University of Miami working on better ties

Children's Hospital Boston has agreed to a three-year contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts that will not pay Children's any more money this year, offering fresh evidence that the clamor to contain health costs is having an effect. In the second and third years of the pact, the hospital will be reimbursed by Blue Cross Blue Shield at a rate neither party would specify, but both said it was below the current 3 percent rate of medical inflation.

24 Jan 2012

State news: Rate hikes approved in Mass., Va. families still wait for autism coverage, health IT booming

State regulators have approved premium increases averaging 2.3 percent for health insurance covering hundreds of thousands of residents, the most modest hikes in at least a decade and a sign that years of efforts to control costs may be working. The new rates are in Massachusetts' "small group'' market, which includes tens of thousands of small businesses as well as self-employed and formerly uninsured individuals.

24 Jan 2012

Colo. House passes resolution to repeal the health law; Conn. insurance exhange board faces key decisions

Colorado's Republican-led House voted largely along party lines to wage a challenge to the federal health law -- a state-initiated amendment to the Constitution to repeal the measure. And, in Connecticut, the planning panel has decisions to make well before people start signing up for coverage on the state's health exchange.

21 Jan 2012

Quality reports find mixed bag in Minn., drop in postsurgical deaths

Medical mistakes increased in Minnesota hospitals in 2011, but the number of "adverse events" that led to serious patient harm or death fell, a new report says. In addition, nationwide, postsurgical deaths decreased despite the number of surgeries being up overall, Medscape reports. Michigan and Connecticut, however, are struggling with patient quality issues.

20 Jan 2012

Roundup: State lawmakers urge deficit reduction

On Wednesday, the National Conference of State Legislatures, which represents lawmakers from across the country, sent President Barack Obama, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a letter urging them to "examine all possible avenues for deficit reduction, including discretionary spending, entitlement reform and revenue-related options."

20 Jan 2012

Despite pending state health law legal challenge, some legislators take opposite stand

Media outlets from Connecticut, Texas and Iowa report on how a Supreme Court brief, which was filed by the Progressive States Network and signed by hundreds of state officials, is shaking up some state-level policy discussions.

13 Jan 2012

Medicaid news: Advocates decry Maine plan to cut rolls

In wide-ranging news about state Medicaid programs, outlets look at the controversy in Maine, the lawsuit in Texas that could have ramifications across the country, a suit in Connecticut that charges the state doesn't have enough staff to process applicants, efforts to require prompt state payments to health care providers and Kansas' realignment of its Medicaid operations.

11 Jan 2012

State roundup: Colo. reports 'record' number of Medicaid recipients; Hollywood nursing home stymied by Congress?

Nearly 615,000 Coloradans were on Medicaid in November, by far a record high, officials said Wednesday, attributing the vast bulk of the growth to economic hard times rather than recent eligibility expansions. ... the 614,146 Coloradans enrolled in Medicaid in November represented a 57.7 percent increase over January 2007. ... roughly 13 percent of all Coloradans are covered by state health-insurance programs.

6 Jan 2012

BioTime to market muscle progenitor cell lines bearing hereditary diseases

BioTime, Inc. today announced that it has elected to market progenitors of muscle stem cells bearing hereditary diseases. BioTime will produce the products from five human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines from Reproductive Genetics Institute (RGI) of Chicago, Illinois.

4 Jan 2012

Employment issues: A hot topic among health care workers

In Connecticut, the issue of unionizing home care attendants has sparked charged debate. Meanwhile in California, nurses - in the midst of contract negotiations - plan to picket at Sutter Health's Sacramento headquarters and nine of its hospitals; and, in Texas, nurses filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board regarding Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center's sick leave policy.

23 Dec 2011

State roundup: Florida awaits Medicaid waiver news

Now, nurses regularly do everything from give insulin shots to empty urinary catheter bags. At the same time, state budget cuts mean the number of school nurses in California is shrinking. As a result, nurses say, they are responsible for more students every year and are largely consumed with keeping "medically fragile" children in class.

16 Dec 2011

Retiree health funds run low, program to close early

A notice in Friday's Federal Register made clear that the fund designed to help cover health insurance for early retirees would stop taking claims for expenses incurred after Dec. 31.

13 Dec 2011