- Medicaid to offer rewards for healthy behavior, By Aimee Miles, April 8, 2011, Kaiser Health News: “A federal grant program authorized in the health overhaul law is offering states $100 million to reward Medicaid recipients who make an effort to quit smoking or keep their weight, blood pressure or cholesterol levels in check. The grant program is meant to encourage states, many of which are under pressure to cut Medicaid costs, to experiment with an uncertain approach to wellness: offering incentives for healthy behavior. ‘Medicaid is almost the sweet spot for financial rewards,’ said George Loewenstein, a behavioral economist at Carnegie Mellon University who has studied the effect of financial incentives on behavior. Medicaid recipients, he explains, are economically disadvantaged and have more to gain from incentives. Loewenstein, however, is dubious about whether incentives, especially those tied to weight loss, could really work. He’s not alone. Behavioral incentive programs have shown some promise in specific settings, but they are largely untested in the Medicaid population…”
- State seeks ways to stretch Medicaid dollars, By Trip Jennings, April 4, 2011, Santa Fe New Mexican: “New Mexico smokers who rely on Medicaid might rethink that next cigarette. The same goes for that sugary pastry. Like other states struggling to find ways to stretch dollars spent on health care for the poor, New Mexico is seeking ways to save money on the fast-expanding government insurance program. Encouraging Medicaid enrollees to take more responsibility for their own health issues is likely to be part of the discussion. Last month, New Mexico’s human services agency quietly issued a 61-page document inviting bidders to contemplate ways to redesign Medicaid, which serves roughly one in four New Mexicans. Among the issues the state Human Services Department highlighted when seeking proposals from interested firms is changing the responsibilities of Medicaid enrollees for such things as cost sharing and healthy behaviors…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty