Costs of expanding health coverage reduced by fewer hospital stays, study shows, By Guy Boulton, June 3, 2013, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “A state health insurance program that provided improved access to care for adults with very low incomes in Milwaukee County sharply reduced hospitalizations, suggesting that the cost of expanding coverage could be partially offset by the money saved from fewer high-cost hospital stays, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The study, which was published Monday in the policy journal Health Affairs, found an increase in visits to clinics and emergency departments, but a 59% drop in hospitalizations and a 48% drop in preventable hospitalizations. The study supports the idea that if people, particularly those with chronic illnesses, have better access to care, they may be able to manage their health better, said Thomas DeLeire, a professor of public affairs and economics and director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison…”
Tag: Hospitals
States and Medicaid Expansion
- Hospitals lobby hard for Medicaid expansion, By Michael Ollove, April 17, 2013, Stateline: “With billions of dollars at stake, hospitals are lobbying hard for Medicaid expansion in Columbus, Tallahassee and other state capitals where state legislators oppose the extension of the program to some 17 million Americans. Hospital associations have paid for television and newspaper ads, organized rallies, and choreographed legislative testimony in support of the Medicaid expansion, which is part of the Affordable Care Act. They also have united disparate groups which are used to being on opposite sides of legislative debates. In Columbus, for example, Ohio Right to Life and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio are working side-by-side to persuade state lawmakers to approve the expansion. Both groups say they want to make health insurance available to the poor…”
- Arkansas OKs compromise plan to use federal Medicaid expansion funds for private insurance, Associated Press, April 17, 2013, Washington Post: “Arkansas’ plan to use federal money to buy private insurance for low-income residents won final approval from state lawmakers Wednesday, endorsing a model that several other states are eyeing as a possible alternative to expanding Medicaid. The Republican-controlled Legislature narrowly reached the three-fourths majority needed to pass the proposal, which was a compromise reached between leading GOP lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe…”
- New Jersey Medicaid expansion seen as on schedule, By Chris Mondics, April 17, 2013, Philadelphia Inquirer: “New Jersey is gearing up for a huge expansion of its Medicaid health-care plan for the poor and, despite uncertainty over federal eligibility requirements, new enrollees are expected to begin receiving services by the Jan. 1 deadline, Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez said Tuesday. Velez, who testified before the Assembly Budget Committee on her department’s proposed $15 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, said she expected about 300,000 new Medicaid enrollees to be added to the 1.3 million who receive care under the program. The state will get slightly more than $1 billion from the federal government under the Affordable Care Act to pay for the expansion…”
- Legislator unveils another approach to insure low-income Texans, by Chuck Lindell, April 16, 2013, Austin American-Statesman: “With staunch Republican opposition leaving Medicaid expansion on life support, a GOP lawmaker is pushing legislation to spend billions of government dollars to purchase private-market health insurance for the state’s poorest citizens. State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, calls it the ‘Texas Solution.’ Instead of adding up to 1.5 million uninsured Texans to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the Zerwas plan would extend coverage by plowing the money into private insurance policies, similar to an arrangement Arkansas is working out with the federal government, he said…”
- House wants waiver on Medicaid for now, By Jim Siegel, April 18, 2013, Columbus Dispatch: “In the latest chapter of the Medicaid expansion debate in Ohio, the House tonight is expected to ask Kasich administration to seek a waiver from the federal government and return with a new proposal this fall. The amendment will be part of final changes the House will make before giving final passage to the two-year, $61.5 billion budget…”
- Medicaid expansion debate suspended, By JoAnne Young, April 18, 2013, Lincoln Journal Star: “Talk isn’t cheap. It’s a valuable commodity when the clock is ticking down on the long session of the Legislature. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Legislature spent a lot of words — 10 hours and 20 minutes worth — on Medicaid expansion. But it went away empty-handed, without even a vote on an amendment on the bill (LB577)…”
US Health Care System
This election, a stark choice in health care, By Abby Goodnough and Robert Pear, October 10, 2012, New York Times: “Joyce Beck, who runs a small hospital and network of medical clinics in rural Nebraska, is reluctant to plan for the future until voters decide between President Obama and Mitt Romney. The candidates’ sharply divergent proposals for Medicare, Medicaid and coverage of the uninsured have created too much uncertainty, she explained. ‘We are all on hold, waiting to see what the election brings,’ said Ms. Beck, chief executive of Thayer County Health Services in Hebron, Neb. When Americans go to the polls next month, they will cast a vote not just for president but for one of two profoundly different visions for the future of the country’s health care system…”