- GOP’s ‘no’ on Medicaid becomes ‘Let’s make a deal’, By David Lieb (AP), March 24, 2013, San Francisco Chronicle: “Given the choice of whether to expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s health care law, many Republican governors and lawmakers initially responded with an emphatic ‘no.’ Now they are increasingly hedging their objections…”
- Ala Legislature to take on revamp of Medicaid, By Kathy Wingard (AP), March 24, 2013, San Francisco Chronicle: “The Alabama State Legislature is set to begin work on an overhaul bill that will change Medicaid to a managed care plan by 2017. The plan that will be introduced to House and Senate committees is the result of a 14-month effort by the 33-member Alabama Medicaid Advisory Commission formed by Gov. Robert Bentley in late 2012…”
- Arkansas Medicaid expansion attracts other states’ interest, By Julie Rovner, March 26, 2013, National Public Radio: “Since the Supreme Court made the Medicaid expansion under the federal health law optional last year, states’ decisions have largely split along party lines. States run by Democrats have been opting in; states run by Republicans have mostly been saying no or holding back. But now Arkansas — at the suggestion of the federal government — has suggested a third option: Enroll those newly eligible for Medicaid in the same private insurance plans available to individuals and small businesses…”
- Medicaid expansion in trouble in Michigan Legislature, Associated Press, March 23, 2013, Mlive.com: “Rep. Matt Lori found himself in an unusual position when shepherding through a $15.3 billion health budget that pays for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the needy. The Republican chairman of the House health budget subcommittee favored GOP Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposal to make hundreds of thousands of more residents Medicaid-eligible under the federal health overhaul. But he left Medicaid expansion out of the spending bill last week because it lacks enough backing among Republicans…”
- GOP Medicaid alternative supported in Missouri hearing, By David Lieb (AP), March 25, 2013, Kansas City Star: “A Republican alternative to President Barack Obama’s envisioned Medicaid expansion won support Monday from Missouri medical and business groups, though some legal experts predicted it never would pass muster because it doesn’t cover enough lower-income adults. The GOP proposal in Missouri is one of several being pursued in states that seeks to reap the full financial benefit of Obama’s 2010 health care law without fulfilling all of its requirements…”
Day: March 26, 2013
Drug Testing and Assistance Programs – Texas
Bill to drug-test welfare applicants approved, By Chuck Lindell, March 26, 2013, Austin American-Statesman: “The Senate Health and Human Services Committee unanimously approved a bill to implement drug testing for welfare applicants after changes were made to ensure that benefits for children would continue despite a positive drug test for a parent. Benefits would be cut off only for the adult who tests positive for drugs, said the bill’s author, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound. A second positive test would cancel the adult’s benefits for one year, though Temporary Assistance for Needy Families could be reinstated after six months with proof of completion or enrollment in a drug-rehabilitation program. A third drug test would produce a lifetime ban from welfare benefits, Nelson said…”