N.J. considers raising minimum wage, By Joelle Farrell, February 23, 2012, Philadelphia Inquirer: “After hearing tales of hardship from both low-wage workers and struggling businesses on Thursday, a panel of New Jersey lawmakers decided it was time to give a boost to those who earn the minimum wage. The Assembly Labor Committee voted 6-2 to approve a bill that would raise the minimum hourly wage to $8.50, a $1.25 increase that would give New Jersey one of the highest rates in the nation. The bill would peg the wage to inflation, allowing future increases to occur automatically. The full Assembly can now vote on the measure. The Senate Labor committee had not yet scheduled a hearing on the bill…”
Tag: New Jersey
State Medicaid Programs
- N.J. to disperse $40M in federal Medicaid funding to hospitals, clinics investing in electronic records, By Susan K. Livio, February 9, 2012, Star-Ledger: “The state this week is distributing $40 million in federal Medicaid funds to reward 30 hospitals and 40 physician practices that have been enterprising enough to invest in an electronic medical record system designed to improve care and catch mistakes, state health and human services officials announced today…”
- Health care providers say Medicaid managed care riddled with problems, By Beth Musgrave and Valarie Honeycutt Spears, February 9, 2012, Lexington Herald-Leader: “The baby was coming, no matter what a managed care company had to say. But when a woman in labor went to one of Appalachian Regional Healthcare’s eight Kentucky hospitals before Christmas, the hospital was told by one of three managed care companies that now run Medicaid in much of Kentucky that it must get preauthorization to deliver the baby in order to get paid. Fourteen days after the woman and baby went home, the hospital still was waiting for approval to deliver the baby, said Joe Grossman, vice president and chief financial officer of Appalachian Regional Healthcare. Grossman was one of several people to testify Wednesday before a Senate panel about problems with private companies that are now managing Medicaid care in Kentucky…”
- Quinn to Obama: Illinois pressing ahead on Medicaid reforms, By Ray Long and Alissa Groeninger, February 10, 2012, Chicago Tribune: “As President Barack Obama presses forward with his signature health care law, his fellow Illinois Democrats running state government have waited more than a year to win federal approval for a new plan to fight fraud in the health program for 2.7 million of the state’s poorest residents. Facing increasing Republican pressure to put reforms in place, Quinn’s team told the Obama administration this week that Illinois will wait no longer. Later this month, the state’s Healthcare and Family Services Department will start matching addresses of people enrolled in Medicaid against Illinois secretary of state driving records to ensure that care for the poor is going to people who actually live in Illinois. The Quinn administration also is putting together a plan to check income eligibility and plans to roll it out soon, officials said…”
Child Care Subsidies – New Jersey
- Report: N.J. subsidized child care program hobbled by poor oversight and long waits, By Susan K. Livio, January 25, 2012, Star-Ledger: “New Jersey could be wasting millions of dollars a year on its subsidized child care program for thousands of working poor families by overpaying day care providers and failing to catch parents lying about their income, according to an audit state Comptroller Matthew Boxer released today. The comptroller’s team found glaring problems with the oversight of the N.J. Cares for Kids day care assistance program that eluded the state Department of Human Services and 15 regional agencies that manage its vast referral network, according to the audit…”
- NJ comptroller criticizes state-administered child care program in audit, By John Reitmeyer, January 25, 2012, The Record: “Parents who cheated a $124 million state-administered program that helps low-income families afford child care – a program that has 8,000 children on a waiting list – could face criminal prosecution. An audit of the state Child Care Assistance Program released Wednesday by the Office of the State Comptroller found a series of other problems not detected by administrators, including overpaying child care centers with inflated attendance figures and enrolling children without proper Social Security numbers. In some cases, Comptroller Matthew Boxer said, the errors were likely honest. But others could eventually give rise to a criminal case, he said…”