- Utah leaders pushing feds for quick approval for state Medicaid waiver, By Wendy Leonard, July 24, 2011, Deseret News: “State government officials signed a letter last week addressed to federal officials, hoping to push their Medicaid waiver request along in a ‘timely fashion.’ The original waiver, which seeks flexibility in reforming the system locally, among other changes to Medicaid, was submitted to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on July 1. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said the state’s plan ‘makes sense,’ is ‘innovative and homegrown,’ and is the result of much collaboration from stakeholders…”
- Jindal administration announces firms for Medicaid privatization, By Bill Barrow, July 25, 2011, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “The state health department today identified five companies to run a $2.2 billion privatization of the Louisiana Medicaid insurance program for low-income children and adults. The firms still must clear additional rounds of government evaluation, including by the federal agency responsible for the Medicaid program, before Medicaid recipients can join the new managed-care networks later this year. But the announcement is a key juncture for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature health-care initiative. The program would shift more than two-thirds of the state’s 1.2 million Medicaid recipients – most of them children – to a system of coordinated-care networks designed to save taxpayer money and provide better care through coordination among doctors, hospitals and other medical professionals. Medicaid currently operates on a traditional fee-for-service model, with a recipient choosing any physician or other provider who accept the program and the provider billing the state after delivering a service…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty