- Medicaid billing fight could cost Florida counties, By Tia Mitchell, March 1, 2012, Tampa Bay Times: “Florida counties stand to lose nearly $300 million in state revenue over the next few years, a punishment of sorts for what the state says are unpaid Medicaid bills. But counties say much of what the state categorizes as delinquent bills are actually erroneous charges created by a faulty state billing system, and that the state’s decision to collect is masking a ploy to shift additional costs to local governments. Led by the Florida Association of Counties, local officials are begging legislators for a fix as House-Senate budget negotiations commence…”
- Kentucky auditor recommends changes in Medicaid program, By Deborah Yetter, March 1, 2012, Louisville Courier-Journal: “State Auditor Adam Edelen recommended Wednesday that the state consider removing mental-health services from its new Medicaid managed care system, citing an especially high number of complaints about access to care and medication. ‘There are areas within managed care where problems appear to be more systemic than others,’ Edelen said in an interview. ‘Behavioral health is one of those.’ The recommendation is among 10 that Edelen proposed to address problems with the managed care system the state launched Nov. 1 in an effort to save money. The problems include delays or the denial of medical care to patients and late payments, or in some cases none at all, to health-care providers. But Edelen’s suggestion that mental-health services be excluded from managed care generated the most enthusiasm among advocates, who said they had lobbied for exactly that before state officials launched the program…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty