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.

Will the health law's future be decided by the high court or the election?

Media outlets weigh the various scenarios and where the ultimate muscle exists to advance or undo the health law.

18 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Health care is a civil right; A Medicare strategy based on Lenin

Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy is one of progress toward a better life for every American, including equal opportunity in voting, housing, education, and employment. Reflecting on his legacy also means recognizing the steps we must take to address the inequalities that persist. Many of these involve health care. Poor and minority Americans suffer from more preventable diseases on average, lower-quality care, fewer treatment options, and less health insurance coverage.

18 Jan 2012

Ore. Governor proposes 'coordinated care organizations' to reform state's Medicaid program

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber is proposing to change the state's iteration of Medicaid by ending its fee-for-service model and instituting "coordinated care organizations" to manage patients' chronic care to keep them out of hospital rooms.

18 Jan 2012

Inmates with severe mental illnesses alone have lower rates of recidivism

People with mental illness have gotten a bad rap in past research studies, being labeled the group of people with the highest return rates to prison. But a researcher from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University counters those findings in a new study-demonstrating that inmates with severe mental illnesses alone actually have lower rates of recidivism than those with substance abuse issues or no mental or substance abuse issues.

18 Jan 2012

State roundup: State lawmakers, governors planning health legislation; Some Pa. kids losing Medicaid

Iowa House and Senate Republicans could support legislation requiring lawmakers to contribute to the cost of their state-provided health-care benefits, party leaders told the Des Moines Register's editorial board this morning. The health-care packages now offered by the state - in which most employees, including legislators, are not required to make contributions from their salaries - are "out of touch" with the plans available to average Iowans, ... House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said.

18 Jan 2012

Premier, Horizon enter three-year national group purchasing contract

Horizon Software International, the leader in K-12 food service technology and online account management, has been awarded a three-year national group purchasing contract with the Premier healthcare alliance.

17 Jan 2012

Research Roundup: Raising Medicare's eligibility age; Insurance status affects ER imaging services

Raising The Ages Of Eligibility For Medicare And Social Security -- The authors analyzed a scenario in which the eligibility age - current 65 - would be increased by two months every year until it reached 67 in 2027. They found that would cut Medicare expenditures by 5 percent but many people between the ages of 65 and 67 would pay more for health care.

13 Jan 2012

Governors' agendas include Medicaid but not much on state insurance exchanges

Meanwhile, a Colorado legislator seeks to force the governor to ask for a waiver to change the Medicaid program.

13 Jan 2012

Chamber president calls for entitlement reform

Tom Donohue, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security costs must be tamed.

13 Jan 2012

First Edition: January 13, 2012

"The much celebrated, and much maligned, public option may have died in Congress, but it's alive and well in California. Unique in the nation for having public health insurance plans that are run by counties, California has plans that stretch from San Francisco to the Mexican border and cover 2.5 million residents"

13 Jan 2012

Federal judge halts Calif. plan to cut Medicaid payments for medical transportation

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday to halt a 10% Medi-Cal provider reimbursement cut to medical transportation services. It was the third time the state has lost in court on this issue. State officials said the state will appeal.

13 Jan 2012

ACO news: Cigna, Weill Cornell docs join forces; Pediatric ACO concept falls through the cracks

Yet even as the latest accountable care organization effort is announced, it appears that plans have stalled to create a Medicaid children's version of ACOs.

13 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Recession's effect on health spending; The flaws in raising Medicare eligibility age

Health care spending in the United States increased at the slowest rate in half a century in 2009 and 2010. ... That looks like good news after decades of soaring health care spending that outpaced economic growth. The hitch: the main factor was the recession that left millions of Americans unemployed, uninsured, short of income, and unable or unwilling to spend money on health care.

13 Jan 2012

Sutter Health enters two-year contract agreement with Aetna

Aetna and Sutter Health today announced that they have reached agreement on a two-year contract renewal maintaining network access for Aetna members in Northern California.

12 Jan 2012

States file briefs against health law's Medicaid expansion

In a brief filed Tuesday, the 26 states that are involved in a challenge to the health law argued the measure's Medicaid expansion is "unconstitutional coercion" and linked it to the individual mandate.

12 Jan 2012

Implementation efforts continue at the state level

In Virginia, Democratic lawmakers are pushing a proposal to establish a state-based exchange. These legislators see their plan, which is built on the argument that state action would keep the federal government from being involved, will draw support from others regardless of their feelings about the health law itself. Meanwhile, Montana's high-risk insurance pool is running out of cash.

12 Jan 2012

Raising Medicare's eligibility age would save money, but also shift costs

A new Congressional Budget Office estimate found the federal government could save $148 billion over 10 years by gradually increasing the Medicare age to 67.

12 Jan 2012

Medicaid cuts have patient advocates, states considering their options

Stateline reports that new federal rules that limit state options for cutting Medicaid have moved health care providers and patient advocates nearer to testing the legality of the cuts in court. In the meantime, Medicaid cuts and restructuring remain in play in dwindling state budgets as Oregon, Ohio and Kansas look for ways to save money in the state-federal health care program for the poor.

12 Jan 2012

Geisinger announces it will not hire smokers

Also in hospital news, a Denver Hospital will pay $6.3 Million to settle overbilling allegations and officials at the University of Louisville Hospital look to Kentucky's governor for a financial plan.

12 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Slowing health care growth; Competing views of Romney

The headline is that health care spending grew at only 3.9 percent in 2010 - just .1 percent more than the rate of growth in 2009. Combine the numbers from 2009 and 2010 and we're looking at the slowest two-year rate of growth since the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began keeping tabs on these numbers 51 years ago.

12 Jan 2012