Medicaid managed care is a growing but risky business, By Christopher Weaver, August 26, 2011, Washington Post: “Sanjuanita Espinoza, 55, doesn’t seem like a gold mine for private insurers. She’s disabled, has high blood pressure and has no family to help with her care. Yet, to some Texas insurers, she is an opportunity. In August, the state picked five health plans in South Texas to oversee care for people such as Espinoza who are enrolled in Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor. This scenario is playing out across the country as states increasingly turn to private insurers to rein in the cost of Medicaid. But Medicaid managed care is a risky business. Many new enrollees are older and sicker than the people health plans typically cover. The political environment is fierce, and insurers face resistance from physicians, hospitals and perhaps patients…”
Day: August 29, 2011
Cuts to Legal Aid Programs
Legal aid programs for poor deal with deep cuts, By Elizabeth Crisp, August 29, 2011, USA Today: “Programs that provide free legal aid to the poor are laying off employees, cutting services and increasingly turning away people who need assistance, as slashed budgets face deeper cuts. ‘It’s a really dire situation,’ said Rebekah Diller, deputy director of the justice program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. ‘Courts around the country are struggling right now with massive amounts of people who have no legal representation.’ Legal aid programs provide representation in civil cases related to domestic violence, foreclosures, child custody issues and similar matters. The Constitution guarantees legal representation if a person cannot afford to hire a lawyer in criminal cases, but in civil cases, people are on their own…”