- Maine debate hints at rift on Medicaid after ruling, By Abby Goognough and Robert Pear, July 18, 2012, New York Times: “As some Republican governors declare that they will not expand Medicaid under the national health care law, Gov. Paul R. LePage is going a step further. In what could lead to a direct confrontation with the Obama administration, he is planning to cut thousands of people from Maine’s Medicaid rolls, arguing that the recent Supreme Court ruling on the law gives him license to do so. Mr. LePage, a Republican, says the ruling gave states leeway to tighten eligibility for Medicaid, the joint state-federal program that provides health care to low-income and disabled people. Federal officials insist that while the ruling allowed states to opt out of a planned expansion of Medicaid, it left intact all other aspects of the law affecting the program…”
- The big push on Medicaid fraud, By Emily Ramshaw, July 19, 2012, New York Times: “When it comes to finding cost savings in the state’s unwieldy Medicaid program, the Office of Inspector General at the Health and Human Services Commission gets high marks. The division, charged with investigating fraud among health care providers paid to treat impoverished children and the disabled, has drastically increased both its caseload and the potential monetary returns associated with it over the last fiscal year. The spike has won glowing reviews from budget-weary state lawmakers and has cast Texas’ innovative enforcement team into the national spotlight. But O.I.G.’s dollar-recovery strategy – which includes an increased reliance on a rule that allows investigators to freeze financing for any health care provider accused of overbilling – has enraged doctors, dentists and other providers who treat Medicaid patients. They say an anonymous call to a fraud hot line or a computer-generated analysis of a handful of billing codes is enough to halt their financing without even a hearing, jeopardizing their practices and employees and leaving thousands of needy patients in a lurch while the state works to prove – or rule out – abuse…”
Day: July 20, 2012
State Unemployment Rates
- Unemployment rates rise in 27 states as more look for work, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), July 20, 2012, USA Today: “Unemployment rates rose in 27 states last month, the most in almost a year. The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates fell in 11 states and Washington, D.C. – the fewest declines since August. Rates were unchanged in 12 states. Nationwide, employers added only 80,000 jobs last month, third straight month of weak job growth. The national unemployment rate stayed at 8.2%…”
- Payrolls climb in 29 U.S. states, led by California, By Lorraine Woellert, July 20, 2012, Bloomberg: “Payrolls increased in 29 states in June, while 21 lost jobs, indicating limited progress in the U.S. labor market. The unemployment rate rose in 27 states, fell in 11 and the District of Columbia, and was unchanged in 12. California led the nation with a 38,300 gain in employment, followed by Ohio with an increase of 18,400 jobs, the Labor Department reported today in Washington…”
Limits on Electronic Benefit Transactions
New welfare restrictions target booze, tattoos, By Shannon Young (AP), July 18, 2012, Boston Globe: “Taking aim at what they call an abuse of the taxpayers’ money, a growing number of states are blocking welfare recipients from spending their benefits on booze, cigarettes, lottery tickets, casino gambling, tattoos and strippers. ‘If you’re not abusing the program, then you should really have no problem with these reforms,’ said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, a Republican pushing for restrictions in Massachusetts. While the crackdown has strong populist appeal in Democratic and GOP states alike in this era of tight budgets and tea party demands for fiscal discipline, advocates for the poor argue that the restrictions are based on stereotypes about people on welfare, and they say the notion of any widespread abuse is a myth. Most people on public assistance, they contend, are single mothers struggling just to get by…”