Feds: Florida can continue 5-county Medicaid pilot, By Kelli Kennedy (AP), December 15, 2011, Miami Herald: “Federal officials on Thursday approved the expansion of a five-county Medicaid privatization pilot program that allows for-profit providers to determine the health care of recipients, but there’s no indication whether a statewide expansion will be allowed. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was insisting on new protections, more accountability and quality reporting, spokesman Alper Ozinal said…”
Day: December 19, 2011
State Minimum Wage – Florida
Florida minimum wage inches up, By Tim Engstrom, December 18, 2011, News-Press: “Florida’s lowest-paid workers will get a raise on Jan. 1 with an increased Florida minimum wage, but local employers say most workers – except tipped employees like restaurant servers – won’t notice because they already earn more. Florida’s minimum hourly wage will jump 4.9 percent to $7.67 an hour. That becomes an extra $14.40 for a 40-hour week for a total gross pay of $306.80 for the week. That adds up to annual pay of $15,953.60. The minimum hourly wage for tipped employees jumps to $4.65…”
Medicare/Medicaid Programs and Hospitals
- Low Medicare, Medicaid rates shift costs to insurers, study finds, By Guy Boulton, December 17, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “An estimated $851 million is added to the cost of commercial health insurance to make up for the lower fees that Medicare and Medicaid pay hospitals in southeastern Wisconsin, according to a study released last week. The study, commissioned by the Greater Milwaukee Business Foundation on Health, supports the long-standing position of the hospital industry that the government health programs don’t cover their share of costs and that the shortfall is passed on to employers and individuals through higher prices for commercial health plans. Yet that contention – widely held in the business community and among elected officials – is challenged by most health economists…”
- Medicare penalties for readmissions are likely to hit hospitals serving the poor, By Jordan Rau, December 19, 2011, Washington Post: “James Breedin cannot keep track of how often he has been admitted to Howard University Hospital for heart problems. ‘It’s been so many,’ said Breedin, a 75-year-old disabled former truck driver from Northeast Washington. One reason for his frequent returns, he says, is that he often can’t afford the medications his doctor prescribes, ‘so I have to do without.’ Another is that he fears exercising outside because of neighborhood violence. Medicare is preparing to penalize hospitals with frequent potentially avoidable readmissions, which by one estimate costs the government $12 billion a year. Medicare’s aim is to prod hospitals to make sure patients get the care they need after discharge. But this new policy is likely to disproportionately affect hospitals that treat the most low-income patients, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services…”