- Medicaid’s new patients: healthier, and maybe cheaper, By Dan Gorenstein, May 9, 2014, Marketplace: “Since the launch of the Affordable Care Act last fall, some five million more Americans have enrolled in the nation’s healthcare program for low-income people. With only half the states expanding their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act, researchers believe that number would double if all 50 states moved ahead, and several new reports suggest it may be cheaper for states to go ahead than previously estimated…”
- Pa. plan to cover the uninsured back on track?, By Amy Worden and Don Sapatkin, May 8, 2014, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Signaling progress in its negotiations with the federal government, the Corbett administration said Thursday that it expected by January to launch its plan to provide health-care coverage for more than 500,000 low-income Pennsylvanians who lack insurance. Officials said they were so confident that the program would be up and running by Jan. 1 that they had decided to start soliciting contract proposals from private insurers. They hope to name at least two insurers for each of nine regions statewide by Aug. 1…”
- Governor weighs Medicaid options, By Mike Dennison, May 9, 2014, Helena Independent Record: “A coalition of health care and business lobbies, state lawmakers and Gov. Steve Bullock’s office has been quietly discussing options to expand Medicaid in Montana, hoping to craft a compromise on the politically charged topic. ‘I think there are a lot of folks trying to come up with a solution,’ said Sen. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, who’s part of the group. ‘The goals are cheaper cost, better (medical) service and a healthier population…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty