FSSA: Indiana Medicaid costs to grow under health law, By Eric Bradner, September 18, 2012, Evansville Courier and Press: “Even if Indiana policymakers opt to turn down the Medicaid expansion envisioned in the federal health care law, the program’s enrollment is expected to grow in the coming years. It’s because of a ‘woodwork effect’ that the actuary for Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration is projecting. It means that due to the law’s individual mandate that all Americans have health insurance, those who are eligible for Medicaid but aren’t currently signed up will, as the expression goes, come out of the woodwork. The cost of such an effect, with up to 123,000 Hoosiers potentially becoming part of it, would be about $600 million over a seven-year period, according to a new round of estimates that the actuary, Milliman, Inc., provided Tuesday…”
Utah doctors give qualified nod to Medicaid expansion, By Kirsten Stewart, September 17, 2012, Salt Lake Tribune: “Utah doctors support expanding Medicaid but with a few caveats. After hours of contentious debate Saturday over a provision in federal health reform that would expand the health safety net to cover more of the nation’s poor, the Utah Medical Association’s (UMA) House of Delegates approved this carefully parsed statement: ‘When health care reform measures are under consideration by the governor and Legislature, the UMA will support such measures as will improve our patients’ access to care, including the expansion of Medicaid coverage if that is the best way to provide coverage to all Utahns.’ It seems a tepid endorsement for a policy that would insure a third of the state’s uninsured, about 105,000 people. But advocates for the expansion, such as Ray Ward, a family physician in Bountiful, say it’s the best they could hope for given the circumstances…”
Hospitals may lose money if Medicaid not expanded, Associated Press, September 17, 2012, Kearney Hub: “The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s two hospitals in Omaha stand to lose millions of dollars in federal aid under the new federal health care law unless the state expands Medicaid coverage, and administrators said those cuts could mean problems for academic programs that rely on the hospitals for revenue. Â Administrators said the law will eliminate federal payments to the Nebraska Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center. Both qualify for special aid because they serve as safety-net hospitals for patients who are on Medicaid or uninsured, said Cory Shaw, the chief executive officer of UNMC Physicians. Medicaid is a federal health program administered by states covers low-income adults and children as well as people with certain disabilities…”
Deal rejects expansion of Medicaid, By Daniel Malloy, August 28, 2012, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Gov. Nathan Deal said Tuesday that he will not expand the Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act – which would have provided an estimated 650,000 low-income Georgians with health coverage – because it would be too expensive. Deal had said that he would wait until after the presidential election to decide, but during an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11 Alive and Politico at the Republican National Convention, Deal was firm that he will not take federal money to expand the state-based health insurance program for the poor in 2014…”
Hospitals urge state to expand Medicaid, By Tony Leys, August 28, 2012, Des Moines Register: “Iowa hospital executives want the state to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in extra federal Medicaid money under the national health reform program. Gov. Terry Branstad plans to decline the money, which would expand Medicaid to cover about 150,000 poor Iowa adults. Branstad is skeptical that the federal government can afford to keep its promise to pay at least 90 percent of the cost. The Iowa Hospital Association board recently voted unanimously to support expansion of Medicaid, which it termed a ‘historic opportunity to significantly address the plight of uninsured Iowans.’ Association members plan to aggressively lobby legislators on the subject…”
New York’s model for Medicaid managed care, By Christopher Flavelle, August 23, 2012, Businessweek: “In February officials from the New York State Department of Health summoned senior executives from WellCare Health Plans (WCG) to a private meeting in Albany. Attendance was not optional. For the third straight year, WellCare, which covers 75,000 New York State Medicaid beneficiaries, had just received low marks for the quality of care it was delivering, a scorecard that includes doctor visits for children, diabetes treatment, and cancer screenings. In most large states, that would be unremarkable: Many Medicaid managed-care plans, especially those run by for-profit insurers, report below-average access to medical services with few consequences, according to a study conducted by Bloomberg Government…”
Utah Medicaid stops paying for hospital errors but data spotty, By Kirsten Stewart, August 23, 2012, Salt Lake Tribune: “Utah’s Medicaid program no longer pays hospitals to treat illnesses and injuries caused by poor care for patients, such as infections, on-site falls and surgeries on the wrong body part. Hospitals have had to report these ‘provider-preventable conditions’ to the Utah Department of Health since July 2011, a requirement of federal health reform. They’ve disclosed 17 to date, most of them infections. But precisely how much taxpayer money was saved isn’t known…”
