Oregon hospital sees big drop in uninsured; $53M budget proposed for Washington exchange

The number of uninsured patients treated at Oregon Health & Science University's hospital slowed to a trickle this year, a top official said Thursday. Media outlets explore other state insurance developments related to the federal health law.

The Oregonian: Oregon Health & Science University Sees Huge Drop In Uninsured Patients
The number of uninsured patients being seen at Oregon Health & Science University's hospital has slowed to a trickle since the Affordable Care Act kicked in this year, Lawrence Furnstahl, the university's chief financial officer, told his board Thursday. While uninsured patients last year constituted five percent of the patients seen by OHSU, that number dropped to two percent in the first three months of 2014. In the last two months, the ratio has dropped to less than one percent, Furnstahl said to the OHSU board (Budnick, 6/26). 

Seattle Times: Insurance Exchange Gives $53 Million As Low-Ball Budget
Officials with the state's health insurance marketplace estimate that they will need at least $53 million next year to keep the exchange running. That amount is more than the $40 million that has been allocated by the state Legislature, but far less than the $127 million the insurance exchange expects to spend this year. Officials with Washington Health Benefit Exchange, which operates the marketplace, presented their first crack at a budget at a meeting before their board in SeaTac on Thursday (Stiffler, 6/26).

Associated Press:  Advocates Say New Rules Could Hurt Medicaid Access
Vermont legal advocates are at odds with state officials over language in new health care rules that they believe could exclude certain populations from long-term care benefits. The proposed rules are part of the state's wider efforts to implement health care reform, one of Gov. Peter Shumlin's main priorities .... Vermont Legal Aid told lawmakers that a subset of people would, under the new rules, become ineligible for a Medicaid-funded program called Choices for Care. It offers benefits for long-term care and is designed to assist people who require intensive assistance (Garbitelli, 6/26).