Ohio Expects To Move Medicaid’s Long-Term Care Patients Into Managed Care Plans
The initiative unveiled by Gov. John Kasich would bring that last group of enrollees into managed care plans, which already cover nearly 90 percent of the state's Medicaid population. In other news, Medicaid developments in Ohio, Arizona, Indiana, Tennessee and New Mexico.
Columbus Dispatch:
Kasich Administration Makes Final Push To Medicaid Managed Care
Gov. John Kasich plans to move the last group of Medicaid beneficiaries into private managed care plans, more than 150,000 mostly elderly and disabled Ohioans receiving long-term care services at home or in nursing facilities. Nearly 90 percent of the 3 million poor and disabled Ohioans enrolled in the tax-funded health care program are already in managed care. The rest, with some exceptions, would transition from fee-for-service beginning in July 2018, under the two-year budget Kasich unveiled this week. (Candisky, 2/1)
Des Moines Register:
Medicaid Management Firm Hopes For More Money From Iowa Under Gov. Reynolds
The national leader of a Medicaid managed-care company expressed optimism Wednesday that the firm will have more luck in negotiating millions of dollars in higher payments from Iowa once Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds takes the reins from Gov. Terry Branstad. The message to investors came from the parent company of Amerigroup, one of three health-insurance companies that have reported "catastrophic" losses of hundreds of millions of dollars since taking over management of Iowa’s giant Medicaid program last April. The controversial shift was spearheaded by Branstad, who has vowed the state will not substantially increase how much it pays the companies to oversee care for 600,000 poor or disabled Iowans. (Leys, 2/1)
Arizona Republic:
Arizona Plan To Tighten Medicaid Eligibility Likely To Stand Better Chance Under Trump's Watch
State officials again will seek to tighten Medicaid eligibility with new restrictions that could affect tens of thousand of adults enrolled in the government insurance program for low-income Arizonans. The state's Medicaid agency is preparing to seek federal permission to require "able-bodied" Medicaid recipients to either be employed or searching for a job while enrolled. The state also proposes to cap lifetime eligibility for Medicaid at five years. These are the same proposals that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rejected in September. (Alltucker, 2/1)
Kaiser Health News:
Indiana, Pence’s Home State, Seeks Federal OK To Keep Medicaid Expansion
As Congress weighs repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the home state of Vice President Mike Pence Tuesday sought to keep its conservative-style Medicaid expansion under the federal health law. Indiana applied to the Trump administration to extend a regulatory waiver and funding until Jan. 31, 2021, for its innovative package of incentives and penalties that are intended to encourage low-income Hoosiers on Medicaid to adopt healthy behaviors. Beneficiaries pay premiums, get health savings accounts and can lose their benefits if they miss payments. (Galewitz, 2/1)
Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel:
Planned Parenthood Faces Possible Loss Of Medicaid Patients, Funding
Approximately 5,500 women and men statewide, and about 500 in East Tennessee, would most likely have to find another provider for well-care, birth control and screenings if proposals to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding go through. That’s the number of TennCare/Medicaid patients who use the organization for breast and cervical cancer screenings, tests for sexually transmitted diseases, pre- and post-natal care and birth control services, according to Jeff Teague, president and CEO at Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee. (Nelson, 2/2)
Santa Fe New Mexican:
State Grapples With Rising Medicaid Costs Amid ACA Uncertainty
Despite uncertainty about future federal Medicaid funds, more and more low-income New Mexicans are expected to receive health care under the government insurance program, Health and Human Services Secretary Brent Earnest told state lawmakers Wednesday. By the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, Medicaid is expected to cover about 44 percent of the state’s population, or 922,000 residents, including 388,000 enrolled children. (Krasnow, 2/1)
Governing:
Has Expanding Medicaid Made People Healthier?
For all the debate about whether states should expand eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, it’s unclear whether doing so actually makes people healthier. Initial research into the impact of expansion is at the same time exhaustive and scarce, as well as seemingly contradictory in some cases. But what we do know for certain is that as a result of the federal law about 16 million Americans have gained health coverage through Medicaid. And for the states that chose to expand their programs, there is ample evidence of increased usage of health services and improved affordability of care. (Quinn, 2/1)