Healthcare safety nets kept intact with help from Washington, By Noam N. Levey, January 12, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Bolstered by billions of dollars in aid from Washington, states managed to hold their healthcare safety nets together last year despite the fallout from the recession, a new survey shows. Several states actually expanded coverage for poor children and adults, using Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to prevent more Americans from losing insurance in the economic downturn, according to the report by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Now, however, with emergency federal aid scheduled to end this year, it is unclear how much longer financially strained states will be able to head off cutbacks. Republican governors, many of whom have criticized the new healthcare law’s dependence on Medicaid to guarantee all Americans coverage, are pushing the Obama administration for permission to cut their programs…”
Feds helped states sustain Medicaid, By Catherine Candisky, January 12, 2011, Columbus Dispatch: “Almost no state threw people out of its tax-funded Medicaid program last year, a new report found. In fact, more than half made it easier for qualified poor and disabled residents to enroll, blunting a spike in the ranks of the uninsured despite the recession and tight state budgets. Ohio was among both groups. A big reason: Billions in added federal aid to states were contingent on them not dropping Medicaid recipients, the annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found. The report comes just four days after Ohio Gov. John Kasich and 32 other Republican governors sent a letter to President Barack Obama and congressional leaders urging them to allow states to cut Medicaid without risking federal cuts. Ohio is facing a projected $8 billion shortfall in its next two-year state budget as state Medicaid rolls have reached 2 million, including 1 in 3 children. A few states, including Texas, have suggested eliminating Medicaid entirely…”
Coverage for millions – especially kids – at stake in governors’ request, By Jim Saunders, January 11, 2011, Miami Herald: “Florida Gov. Rick Scott and other Republican governors are asking the federal government to give them more power to trim Medicaid eligibility to help control costs. But a report released today has a different take on the situation: It credits federal requirements with helping avoid cutbacks in Medicaid and children’s health programs, as states have dealt with huge budget shortfalls during the past year. ‘Keeping these programs stable and strong has helped protect children and avoid an even larger increase in the nation’s 50 million uninsured and will be key to ensuring the success of health-reform implementation over the next few years,’ Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, said in prepared statement. The report, released by the foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, found that eligibility and enrollment requirements remained the same or improved in almost every state during 2010 in the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program…”
Deep social services cuts outlined in California, By Jesse McKinley, January 10, 2011, New York Times: “Workers were removing the ornaments from the Christmas tree at the Capitol here on Monday morning, and much the same mood filled the legislative chambers as Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his Grinch-like budget. It included $12.5 billion in spending cuts, with a 10 percent cut in take-home pay for some state employees and deep reductions in social services. He also suggested a five-year extension of a bundle of taxes, a plan that requires voter approval, setting the stage for a potentially contentious special election in June. The budget is meant to address an estimated $25.4 billion deficit, just the latest shortfall for a state that has experienced a drumbeat of bad economic news in recent years. But Mr. Brown, who took office last week, cast the blame even further, saying the state’s leaders had spent the last decade balancing their books with ‘gimmicks and tricks and unrealistic expectations that pushed this state deeper and deeper into debt.’ But that period, Mr. Brown repeatedly emphasized, was over…”
Pennsylvania subsidized health insurance for low-income people to end, By Don Sapatkin, January 12, 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania’s subsidized health insurance for low-income working people will likely end next month, officials on Gov.-elect Tom Corbett’s transition team said Tuesday, leaving more than 40,000 people with less palatable options and dashing the hopes of more than 400,000 on the waiting list. ‘AdultBasic is not sustainable,’ said Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the transition, referring to the insurance program that began eight years ago under Gov. Tom Ridge, a Republican, and was expanded by outgoing Gov. Rendell, a Democrat. Staff for the incoming and outgoing governors traded accusations Tuesday about who was responsible for the program’s demise, but both agreed that the money – a combination of tobacco-settlement revenues and donations from the state’s four Blue Cross plans – would run out around Feb. 28 for the fiscal year that ends June 30, and that no good alternative was in place…”
Corbett team negotiates health care for working poor, By Brad Bumsted, January 11, 2011, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Leaders of Republican Gov.-elect Tom Corbett’s transition team said yesterday they worked out a plan with insurance companies to continue providing coverage to the working poor, but at significantly higher premiums than people pay now. Corbett’s team charged that the outgoing administration of Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell unnecessarily delayed notification to people in the adultBasic program and failed to live up to an agreement to provide state money to extend the program. Coverage under the program expires Feb. 28 because of a shortage of money. About 45,000 people receive adultBasic coverage…”
