ACA and Medicaid Coverage

Posted on December 10, 2013 by admin

• Medicaid expansion can aid African Americans, report says, By Kelly Kennedy, December 10, 2013, USA Today: “About six out of 10 uninsured African Americans may be eligible for free or greatly reduced health insurance through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to a new report the government issued Tuesday. The announcement comes as the Obama administration continues its push to persuade the 20 states that have not expanded Medicaid to do so, including North Carolina, which is one of six states with the highest numbers of uninsured African Americans, according to the report…”
• Ohio’s Medicaid-enrollment website works smoothly on first day, By Catherine Candisky, December 10, 2013, Columbus Dispatch: “Online enrollment began yesterday for Ohio’s newly expanded Medicaid program, allowing more than 1,100 low-income residents to sign up for tax-funded health insurance by the end of the day. State officials said it’s likely the largest number ever to sign up for benefits in a single day…”
• Amid the uproar over the health law, voices of quiet optimism and relief, By Abby Goodnough, Katie Thomas and Reed Abelson, December 8, 2013, New York Times: “Since his chronic leukemia was diagnosed in 2010, Ray Acosta has paid dearly for health insurance: more than $800 a month in premiums, plus steep co-payments for the drug that helps keep him alive. Mr. Acosta, 57, owns a small moving company in Sierra Vista, Ariz., which he said had barely made it through the recession. He was thinking about dropping his coverage, but the insurance company beat him to it, informing him recently that it would cancel his policy at year’s end. He sought advice from an insurance agent who had used his moving company. She connected him with an application counselor at a community health center, who found — to Mr. Acosta’s astonishment — that he qualified for Medicaid under the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, which gives states the option of expanding the program to include more low-income adults…”
• Without Medicaid, what will happen to this Portland man?, By Luisa Deprez and Sandy Butler, November 29, 2013, Bangor Daily News: “Thomas Ptacek is 46 and lives in Portland. He is single, has never married and has no kids. Thomas’s concerns are about the future — his and those like him. He is plagued by thoughts of his father’s and aunt’s multiple sclerosis and any genetic predisposition he might have to it. He is plagued by thoughts of the hip replacement surgeries both his father and brother have had, by the re-occurring knee pain from an injury he had while in the military, and by the new nagging pain in his ankle. If any of these occur or get worse, how will he cope? How will he get the medical care he may need..?”
• Enrollment errors put medical coverage at risk, By Robert Pear, December 6, 2013, New York Times: “The Obama administration said Friday that the enrollment records for roughly a quarter of all the people who signed up for health insurance on its website in October and November could contain errors, raising questions about whether those consumers would get coverage in time to pay for their medical care next month. Even now, the administration said, it may be sending incomplete or erroneous information to insurers for one in every 10 people who enroll…”
• Federal exchange sends unqualified people to Medicaid, By Jayne O’Donnell, December 9, 2013, USA Today: “The federal health care exchange is incorrectly determining that some people are eligible for Medicaid when they clearly are not, leaving them with little chance to get the subsidized insurance they are entitled to as the Dec. 23 deadline for enrollment approaches. State and industry officials haven’t quantified the problem yet, but the National Association of State Medicaid Directors may release information next week after following up on reports from around the country, says Executive Director Matt Salo…”