Missouri primary care doctors face substantial Medicaid cut, By Jordan Shapiro, November 6, 2014, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Justin Puckett, an osteopathic physician from Kirksville, Mo., will have a major decision to make at the start of 2015 — whether his family medicine practice can continue to treat Medicaid patients. Looming over Puckett and other primary care doctors is a cut to their reimbursement rate that is set to take effect at the end of this year, barring action from a lameduck Congress reeling from Tuesday’s Republican electoral wave. ‘We are still crossing our fingers,’ he said. Under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, primary care doctors across the country were paid more for treating Medicaid patients during the last two years. But that boost is set to expire, leaving some providers and their patients in a tough spot…”
Day: November 7, 2014
Risk Load of High-Poverty Schools
Study gauges ‘risk load’ for high-poverty schools, By Sarah D. Sparks, November 6, 2014, Education Week: “Poverty is not just a lack of money. It’s a shorthand for a host of other problems—scanty dinners and crumbling housing projects, chronic illnesses, and depressed or angry parents—that can interfere with a child’s ability to learn. Educators and researchers in several of the nation’s largest districts are trying to look at schools based on a fuller picture of children’s experiences, rather than only seeing poverty as a label. In a study released today, researchers at the Center for New York City Affairs linked data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the school district, and the municipal housing, homeless services, and children’s services agencies, and matched the data with 748 elementary schools (which, unlike the districtwide enrollment system for secondary school, use geographic attendance areas.)…”
October Jobs Report
- The October jobs report is boring, in a (mostly) good way, By Neil Irwin, November 7, 2014, New York Times: “There was nothing surprising about Friday morning’s report on the state of the American job market. And that’s (mostly) good news. The labor market — and the economy more generally — has gained momentum as 2014 has progressed, judging from the readings of the job market. The latest numbers do not point to any acceleration of the trend, but neither do they point to deceleration. Rather, they reinforce what we thought we knew, and can give a bit of solace to anyone who interpreted a burst of financial market volatility last month as a sign that the economy was heading for the rocks…”
- Economists react to the October jobs report: ‘On the whole, a strong report’, By Sarah Portlock, November 7, 2014, Wall Street Journal: “U.S. employers added 214,000 jobs in October, while the unemployment rate fell to 5.8% and wages moved up slightly. The headline number was lower than gains in recent months, but the economy has now added an average of 224,000 jobs over the last three months. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected payrolls would increase by 233,000 and the jobless rate would remain at 5.9%. On Friday, economists said the jobs report showed signs of strength in the economy, though there are still areas for improvement in the labor market…”