State data on kids revealed, By Rachel Segura, October 2, 2012, Cortez Journal: “Colorado’s number of children living in poverty more than doubled between 2000 and 2010. Seventeen percent of children were living in poverty compared to 22 percent nationwide. This data was compiled for 2010 using 2009 information; next year, these numbers could change for the better or worse. The 2012 Kids Count in Colorado! report ranked the 25 largest counties in the state using 12 different indicators such as health care, education, family and community to assess which counties have the highest child well-being factors. These counties account for 95 percent of children under 18 in Colorado. Montezuma County is one of those. It ranked 21 out of 25. The data, however, does not signify that all of these indicators were negative. Some counties were stronger while others were weaker…”
Day: October 4, 2012
States and Medicaid Expansion
- Administration advises states to expand Medicaid or risk losing federal money, By Robert Pear, October 2, 2012, New York Times: “The Obama administration is putting pressure on states to expand Medicaid, telling them they may lose federal money if they delay. But at the same time, federal health officials have also told states that if they choose to expand Medicaid, they are free to reverse the decision at any time. The officials have set forth their position in letters to state officials — the first definitive guidance since the Supreme Court ruled in June that the expansion of Medicaid was an option, not a requirement, for states…”
- Medicaid expansion still in question for Tennesssee, By Kristi L. Nelson, October 1, 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel: “It’s possible 240,000 more Tennesseans could be eligible for Medicaid coverage for the first time in 2014. But it’s unlikely they’ll know for sure until 2013. Part of the national Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act calls for states to expand the number of people eligible for Medicaid — in Tennessee’s case, TennCare — to include anyone whose income is 133 percent or less of the federal poverty level. That would shrink the state’s number of uninsured people, now more than 900,000, to an estimated 350,000 or less, according to a report earlier this year from the University of Memphis and the Methodist Le Bonheur Center for Healthcare Economics. But in June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for the federal government to make states expand their Medicaid programs. Instead, it’s leaving that part of the ACA optional, and states have no deadline for deciding whether to participate…”