- Feds tell Iowa: Delay Medicaid privatization by 60 days, By Tony Leys, December 18, 2015, Des Moines Register: “Federal administrators have ordered Iowa to wait at least 60 days before shifting its Medicaid program to private management. The delay, announced Thursday, will affect 560,000 poor or disabled Iowans who receive health care under the $4 billion program. Gov. Terry Branstad has been pushing to transfer Medicaid management to national, for-profit companies on Jan. 1. The governor says the shift would save money and provide more flexible benefits. But federal officials have heard from hundreds of Iowa critics who say Branstad is courting chaos by rushing to make the switch before the managed-care companies are ready…”
- Feds approve Medicaid waiver for Michigan, By Karen Bouffard and Melissa Nann Burke, December 17, 2015, Detroit News: “More than a half million Michigan residents will get to keep their expanded Medicaid health insurance next year and beyond after the federal government Thursday approved the final waiver required under state law. Under terms approved Thursday by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, starting in April 2018 about 110,000 participants in the Healthy Michigan Plan will be required to adopt healthier behaviors or be kicked off the expanded Medicaid program…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty