Health-care law: Arizona tries new approach to get by federal Medicaid rules, By N.C. Aizenman, January 23, 2011, Washington Post: “Republican efforts to repeal or limit the reach of the new health-care law took a new direction last week when Arizona lawmakers approved a novel and controversial attempt to cut Medicaid for 280,000 of the state’s poor. The bill, requested and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R), empowers her to make a formal request, most likely this week, for a federal waiver to avoid complying with provisions of the law that prohibit states from tightening their eligibility requirements for Medicaid. Twenty-nine Republican governors, including Brewer, have signed a letter calling on President Obama and congressional leaders to remove the provision from the law. But Arizona is the first state to, in effect, play chicken with the Obama administration by directly requesting a reprieve and daring Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to refuse…”
States may face showdown with feds over cutting Medicaid rolls, By Marilyn Werber Serafini and Julie Appleby, January 28, 2011, Kaiser Health News: “Financially strapped governors, Congress and the Obama administration could be headed for a showdown over the Medicaid health care program that covers 48 million poor, disabled and elderly people nationwide. Arizona’s governor has already asked for permission to drop people from the joint federal-state program, which states say is eating up huge portions of their budgets. But to do so, they need the green light either from Congress or the Obama administration. If they don’t get one? States warn they may need to slash payments to doctors and hospitals and make deep cuts in other programs such as education. They could even thumb their nose at the law and cut eligibility, which would force the Obama administration to decide whether to cut all federal Medicaid funding to those states…”
Demand for general assistance at critical point in Bangor, By Eric Russell, January 26, 2011, Bangor Daily News: “In the six years that Shawn Yardley has overseen the city’s health and community services department, he has never seen things this dire. On most mornings when he arrives at his office before 8 a.m., Yardley unlocks the door for residents who are waiting to fill out an application for general assistance. Most applicants are encouraged to make appointments, but walk-ins are becoming more common. Yardley always lets them wait in the lobby. Some have to wait for hours but they are always seen. General assistance, an emergency safety net program administered by municipalities but funded in part by the state, is becoming an increasingly used entitlement for people struggling with finances or waiting to receive federal subsidies…”
TANF study to contribute to welfare debate, By Eric Russell, January 26, 2011, Bangor Daily News: “Advocacy groups are calling on lawmakers to focus on facts, not anecdotes and stereotypes, as Gov. Paul LePage and the Republican-controlled Legislature gear up to tackle welfare reform. Maine Equal Justice Partners and the Maine Women’s Lobby released a study Wednesday of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families – or TANF – cases in Maine. TANF is a federal entitlement program, administered by states, that provides a cash benefit to families with dependent children and includes an education and retraining program called ASPIRE. Last year, Maine distributed roughly $32 million in TANF benefits. The yearlong study, conducted by Thomas Chalmers McLaughlin at the University of New England and Sandy Butler at the University of Maine, concluded that recent discussions of welfare reform make unfair generalizations about TANF families…”
