U.S. agency asks about sharp drop in Pa.’s Medicaid rolls, By Angela Couloumbis, July 12, 2012, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania has dropped tens of thousands of people from its Medicaid rolls since last summer – and now the Obama administration wants to know if the state wrongly cut off those benefits. The federal agency that oversees how states administer Medicaid sent a letter last month to the Department of Public Welfare saying initial data showed 130,000 people, including 89,000 children, had been dropped from state Medicaid rolls between August and January. Those people were dropped, noted the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, when DPW was struggling with a backlog, leaving it unable to sort through all the information people had submitted in efforts to qualify for the benefit…”
Pa. eliminating easy stopgap health coverage for poor, By Miriam Hill, July 9, 2012, Philadelphia Inquirer: “If you are poor in Pennsylvania and temporarily disabled, a health-care worker can fill out a one-page form that qualifies you to receive medical care paid for by the state. But that is changing under a new policy, requiring more paperwork, that Gov. Corbett is implementing, arguing that it will save taxpayers money without denying significant numbers of people medical care. Health-care workers and advocates for the poor, however, say the new policy could leave thousands of people without needed care and drive up medical costs in the long run…”
Improved public transit urged to help speed economic recovery, By Maggie O’Brien, July 11, 2012, Omaha World-Herald: “More than three-fourths of Omaha-area jobs can be reached with public transit, a share that mirrors urban averages nationally, according to a Brookings Institution report. But, echoing a national trend that costs the local bus system potential riders, less than a third of the metro area’s workers can get to those jobs by bus in 90 minutes or less. The report released today by Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program surveyed the country’s 100 largest metro areas. Its wider findings nearly mirrored the situation in Omaha, except slightly fewer Omaha-area workers had to ride longer than 90 minutes. Access to reasonable public transit becomes an issue, the report says, as workers continue to climb out of the national recession. People need to be better connected through public transportation, it argues…”
Detroit area lags in jobs served by public transit, By John Gallagher, July 11, 2012, Detroit Free Press: “Metro Detroit ranks below average among the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas in the percentage of its jobs served by public transit, with job growth happening in the suburbs but with shrinking options for suburbanites and city dwellers to get to them, a new study released today found. The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program released ‘Where the Jobs Are: Employer Access to Labor by Transit,’ a look at how well public transit systems serve employers…”
Medicaid patients turn to hospitals for emergencies, not routine care, By Susan Heavey, July 11, 2012, Chicago Tribune: “Most people covered by government health insurance for the poor visit hospital emergency rooms for perceived emergencies, not for routine care, much like those with private insurance, according to a study released on Wednesday. Researchers said the study helps dispel the notion that poor patients are clogging hospitals for routine treatment – for a bad cold, for example – that others receive at lower cost in a clinic or at a doctor’s office. Patients on Medicaid – the insurance program for low-income people financed by federal and state governments – do visit emergency rooms at twice the rate of privately insured patients, said the study by the non-partisan Center for Studying Health Systems, reflecting ongoing challenges in finding alternative care…”
Study: Most Medicaid patients visit the ER for urgent, not routine, care, By Sarah Kliff, July 11, 2012, Washington Post: “Policymakers frequently say that Medicaid patients overuse the emergency room for routine care, citing it as a factor driving up health-care costs. But a new study says that the majority of Medicaid visits to the emergency room are for urgent or serious issues…”
