Skip to main content
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

State Medicaid Programs

Posted on by
  • Feds allow limited cuts to Medicaid, not to level LePage wanted, By Matthew Stone, January 8, 2013, Bangor Daily News: “The federal government will allow Maine to make limited cuts to its Medicaid program, but not to the extent Gov. Paul LePage ’s administration sought last year as it looked to close a $20 million budget hole. The state will book only a fifth of the originally projected savings as a result. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified state officials on Monday that they can cut about 12,600 low-income parents and caretakers from Maine’s Medicaid rolls and cut or reduce coverage for about 8,300 elderly residents who also qualify for Medicare and rely on Medicaid support to purchase prescription drugs. The federal government, however, didn’t allow the LePage administration to cut coverage for about 6,500 19- and 20-year-olds or cut off coverage for as many parents and caretakers as the administration and Republican lawmakers had sought…”
  • Low-income kids shuffled onto Medi-Cal, By Victoria Colliver, January 4, 2013, San Francisco Chronicle: “On Tuesday, California started dismantling a popular health care program for low-income children by shifting nearly 200,000 young people into the massive Medi-Cal program, a move many health advocates fear will disrupt their care. And this is just the first phase of the transition away from the program called Healthy Families. By August, the nearly 900,000 people in the program will be shifted into Medi-Cal. The move is expected to save the state about $58 million in health care costs in 2013-14 and more than $70 million a year when Healthy Families is fully phased out…”
  • New Mexico to join Medicaid expansion program, By Dennis Domrzalski, January 9, 2013, Albuquerque Business First: “Gov. Susana Martinez said Wednesday that New Mexico will join the Medicaid expansion program under the federal Affordable Care Act. The decision means an additional 170,000 low-income adults will be eligible for health care under the joint federal-state program. The expansion will take effect in January 2014. More than 530,000 New Mexicans already receive health care through Medicaid…”