- State hopes for more Medicaid aid, By Catherine Candisky and Jonathan Riskind, April 26, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “Ohio officials are pushing hard for federal aid that could pump $750 million more into the state’s Medicaid program next year, money that would help maintain health-care services to the poor and disabled. The call for more relief comes as Medicaid caseloads continue to climb and state officials face gaping budget shortfalls…”
- $1 billion in federal health aid – with a hitch, By Warren Wolfe, April 26, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Two leading DFL legislators proposed Monday that Minnesota expand Medicaid to cover health care for 37,000 or more low-income residents within months. They want to take advantage of a special provision of the new federal health care law that could send tens of millions of dollars to the state. The hitch: Minnesota would have to put up half the money — about $1 billion over three years — an idea that Gov. Tim Pawlenty and many Republican legislators are sure to oppose because of the state’s budget squeeze…”
- Despite health care reform, uninsured Central New Yorkers turn to clinics, By James T. Mulder, April 26, 2010, Syracuse Post-Standard: “Tim Durley did not worry about being uninsured until he got sick a year ago. The 32-year-old Syracuse man was working as a cook at a DeWitt restaurant. He had lost 77 pounds, was vomiting frequently, felt tired all the time and was experiencing vision problems. ‘I knew there was something wrong with me,’ Durley said. ‘I was really scared.’ The restaurant didn’t offer health insurance benefits. Durley made too much money to qualify for government health insurance programs, but could not afford private insurance. So he went to Amaus Health Services, a free health clinic in downtown Syracuse…”
- Who will switch health coverage?, By Maureen Groppe, April 26, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “Gov. Mitch Daniels has made an eye-popping prediction about the impact of the new health-care overhaul law on Indiana’s Medicaid rolls. Daniels said the state’s actuary determined that Medicaid enrollment will increase by almost 50 percent, resulting in nearly one in four Hoosiers getting coverage through the joint state and federal health program for the poor. The state’s projections are much higher than the 27.5 percent increase that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected nationally for Medicaid. And Indiana’s increase should be smaller, not larger, than the national growth because a smaller share of the state’s poor population lacks coverage…”
- With expanded coverage for the poor, fears of a big headache, By Roni Caryn Rabin, April 26, 2010, New York Times: “Of all the changes wrought by the new health care law, none is more sweeping than the transformation of Medicaid – from the government’s health insurance plan for poor families into a much wider program for millions of the poorest Americans who cannot afford insurance on their own. ‘Medicaid is finally living up to its role of serving as the health care safety net for poor and lower-income individuals and families,’ said Jennifer Tolbert, principal policy analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured…”
- Are there enough docs for the newly insured?, By Daniel C. Vock, April 27, 2010, Stateline.org: “After Massachusetts started rolling out its 2006 law to ensure that nearly every one of its residents had health insurance, the sudden influx of newly insured patients created long waits to see primary care doctors. Now, physicians worry the entire country could see the same thing happen when the recently passed national health law takes full effect in 2014. Even before President Obama signed the health bill, there already was a shortage of primary care physicians, who usually are the first person a patient goes to for treatment. These generalists – usually family physicians and internists (who focus on adults) – are dwindling in number, as older doctors retire and younger medical students opt for more lucrative specialty fields. A surge of as many as 32 million new patients – many of whom are poor and haven’t seen a doctor in a long time – could make the scarcity even worse…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty