Barbour slashes $54.3M from Mississippi budget, By Elizabeth Crisp, December 4, 2009, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “Gov. Haley Barbour is whittling another $54.3 million from the state budget as revenues continue to fall, but Mississippi’s remaining $160 million shortfall likely will be addressed in January after the legislative session begins. ‘When the Legislature spent more money than we had, it falls on the governor to make the savings, which I do,’ he said. Barbour is making his second round of budget cuts since July 1. The cuts, coupled with those in September, amount to $226.3 million. He cut $200 million the previous fiscal year. Many state agencies are now nearly 10 percent below their funding for last year…”
Agency to decide Oklahoma Medicaid cutbacks, By Michael McNutt, December 3, 2009, The Oklahoman: “Thousands of Oklahoma Medicaid patients would see benefits reduced as the state agency that manages the federal program grapples with required 5 percent budget cuts, according to a spending-cut proposal presented Wednesday to a House budget subcommittee. Proposals include limiting paid emergency room visits to three a year, eliminating outpatient adult therapies, such as speech and physical therapy, eliminating reimbursement for newborn circumcision and reducing the number of brand-name prescriptions from three to two for adults, said Mike Fogarty, chief executive officer of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority…”
R.I. emergency food programs see a one-year 30-percent surge, By Paul Davis, November 23, 2009, Providence Journal: “Two years ago, Robin McDuffie and her family often spent $150 a night for five meals at a favorite Spanish restaurant. On the menu? Lobster, filet mignon and arroz con pollo. Then her husband lost his mortgage-company job. Now, McDuffie spends a little more for a week’s worth of groceries — with money from the state. ‘We went from making a hundred grand to making four grand,’ says McDuffie, who attends a class on how to prepare healthful meals with less money. She no longer eats meat. ‘I never thought I’d have to do this,’ says the 38-year-old mother of three. In Rhode Island, where the unemployment rate is among the worst in the nation, the number of people who go to bed hungry is at a 10-year high, according to a new report from the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. ‘Poverty and hunger are facts of life for too many Rhode Islanders,’ says the report, to be released Monday…”
Suburban food pantries struggle with record demand, By Ernst Lamothe Jr., November 23, 2009, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: “Mary Ellen McDowell has gotten accustomed to seeing crowds of people arrive during the holidays at Webster Community Chest, a food cupboard for area residents in need. However, this year is unlike any she’s experienced in the past decade, with a record number coming in for help. The worst recession since the Great Depression forced local suburban food cupboards to become more resourceful to provide the same services. Those who run the food cupboards say the problem isn’t going away and they are leaning on the public and themselves like never before…”
Miss. charities struggle amid need, By Gary Pettus, November 22, 2009, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “For the first time in its history, the Mississippi Food Network won’t be able to buy turkeys and distribute them to thousands of needy Mississippians at Thanksgiving. ‘We aren’t able to provide the turkeys and hams and some of the special foods we usually have,’ said Walker Satterwhite, executive director of the 25-year-old food bank, which supplies more than 300 churches and nonprofits in the state. The reason: a malnourished economy has caused turkey costs to soar and charitable donations to sink…”
Medicaid, S-CHIP expansion plan could hurt states’ budgets, By Richard Wolf, October 18, 2009, USA Today: “The government programs that provide health care to the poor would expand to cover nearly one in five Americans under health insurance legislation pending in Congress, putting pressure on federal and state budgets. Medicaid, one of the fastest-growing government programs for two decades, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program would grow from about 50 million people today to more than 60 million in 2019, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office and Kaiser Family Foundation. That would be the biggest single expansion since Medicaid was created in 1965…”
Medicaid expansion brings pro, con reactions, By Emily Bregel, October 19, 2009, Chattanooga Times Free Press: “Local physicians said health care reform proposals to expand Medicaid coverage drastically, while well-intentioned, are likely unsustainable. ‘Where is the money going to come from to make this happen?’ said Dr. Mack Worthington, a family practice physician in Chattanooga who said almost one-quarter of his patients are on TennCare. ‘I’m all for increasing access, but I just wonder how it’s going to be funded.’ The U.S. Senate Finance Committee last week passed a health reform proposal that would expand Medicaid programs to anyone who earns up to 133 percent of the poverty level, or about $29,000 a year for a family of four…”
Uninsured & overwhelmed, By Ben Piper, October 18, 2009, Hattiesburg American: “Casey Little finds herself in a health care predicament. Little, 25, of Seminary needs health insurance to be able to afford treatments that could relieve the pain she suffers from fibromyalgia. But the nerve disorder has left her constantly hurting, unable to work – and unable to get insurance…”
Pressure mounts: 12,000 caught in a backlog, By Andra Bryan Stefanoni, October 19, 2009, Joplin Globe: “When Candice Sinclair was nearing the end of her pregnancy, she applied for Medicaid to cover her expenses and those of her soon-to-be-born son, Jake. That was in June. Their applications still haven’t been processed, meaning Sinclair is left without means to pay an estimated $5,000 hospital bill, and for Jake’s first year of immunizations and checkups…”
Kansas has backlog of 12,000 Medicaid applications, Associated Press, October 19, 2009, Kansas City Star: “Rising unemployment, the swelling ranks of the uninsured, outdated technology and the state’s budget problems have led to a backlog of 12,000 Medicaid applications in Kansas, health officials said. A contractor that processes applications for the Kansas Health Policy Authority is supposed to complete them in two to six weeks, but has taken up to four months in some cases…”
Lessons from the Massachusetts healthcare experiment, By James Oliphant and Kim Geiger, October 17, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Three years ago, Massachusetts passed the most sweeping healthcare bill in the country, adopting a plan that closely resembles the proposals being considered by Congress. It is a plan that now offers powerful lessons for the whole nation. The state’s system, like the proposals moving toward votes in the House and Senate, focused on three goals: making medical insurance almost universal, fostering competition through a regulated insurance exchange, and helping low-income workers pay for coverage. Today, Massachusetts leads the nation with 96% of its residents covered by insurance — an even larger share than some of the plans before Congress would cover. The employer-based insurance system remains intact despite fears that the state’s healthcare overhaul might cause companies to pull back…”
