Medicaid News
Coverage of Medicaid programs, reforms, and government spending.
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Kansas Almost Voted to Expand Medicaid. What Other States Should Learn From This Near-Mistake.
To expand Medicaid or to not expand Medicaid? That’s still the question facing lawmakers in Kansas and 18 other states. Though the Kansas Legislature voted for expansion last week, Gov. Sam Brownback promptly vetoed the measure. Legislators then tried to override the veto early this week, but fell three votes short of the two-thirds threshold…Drew Gonshorowski -
Work Requirements in Medicaid Won’t Work. Here’s a Serious Alternative.
Recent reports indicate that the Trump administration and House Republicans are considering “work requirements” in Medicaid as part of their overall health care reform package. Under the proposed policy, governors would be given the option of requiring able-bodied adults without dependent children enrolled in Medicaid to hold a job, perform community service, or undertake training…Robert Rector -
Maine Rejected Medicaid Expansion and Found Success. Now, House Health Bill Would Send Us Backward.
As conversations swirl on Capitol Hill and across the nation regarding the repeal of Obamacare and Medicaid reform, I would like to describe Maine’s success in reducing Medicaid enrollment by 24 percent in the last five years and why our experience is relevant to the ongoing debate. In our corner of the United States, we…Mary Mayhew -
Debate on Obamacare Repeal Centers on Medicaid. Here’s How States That Expanded It Are Doing.
As lawmakers begin to debate a GOP bill to replace Obamacare, both Republicans and Democrats say they worry that Americans who gained insurance under the health care law will lose the coverage once Congress repeals it. For many, that worry stems from potential changes to Medicaid proposed by Republicans in their plan to replace the…Melissa Quinn -
Big Challenges Await Seema Verma, Trump’s Choice to Oversee Medicare, Medicaid
The Senate Finance Committee has completed nearly four hours of confirmation hearings for Seema Verma, President Donald Trump’s nominee for administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. A Senate hearing is always a challenge for a new administration, but the Hill got it right: Verma, the daughter of immigrants from India, “cruised” through the…Jean Morrow -
New Data Show Obamacare Insures Less Than 20 Million, Most on Medicaid
Many Obamacare supporters claim the law has expanded health coverage to upwards of 20 million Americans, but new data shows that isn’t accurate. As part of Congress’ continued push to repeal Obamacare, the House Budget Committee held a hearing this week titled “The Failures of Obamacare: Harmful Effects and Broken Promises.” Heritage Foundation expert Ed…Alyene Senger -
Lawmakers Say Congress Should Investigate Millionaires Enrolling in Medicaid
Conservative lawmakers say Congress should investigate the number of millionaires who qualify for and enroll in government-sponsored health insurance under Obamacare, a trend exposed in a Daily Signal report earlier this week. At the monthly Capitol Hill event Conversations with Conservatives, lawmakers in attendance discussed a recent Daily Signal report involving people with high net…Melissa Quinn -
Millionaires Are Qualifying for Medicaid Under Obamacare
Millionaires living in states that expanded Medicaid are benefiting from government-sponsored health insurance, and taxpayers are footing the bill for it. In states that expanded Medicaid, people with high net worths and low monthly incomes qualify for Medicaid because of loosened eligibility requirements implemented under Obamacare. And in rural states like Iowa, Americans whom many…Melissa Quinn -
A Medicaid Budget Gimmick That’s Defrauding Taxpayers
The Washington Post editorial board has long considered itself the “adult in the room” on fiscal matters, all but endorsing the Simpson-Bowles plan and other trendy fiscal proposals. It also allied itself with respectable centrist groups like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget in calling out Congress for engaging in budget gimmicks to hide its spending…Jason Yaworske -
GOP Senators Split on Adding Medicaid Expansion to Obamacare Reconciliation Bill
Senate Republicans are continuing to work through the details of a bill to repeal Obamacare with just 51 votes, and some are calling for the legislation to include a provision rolling back the law’s Medicaid expansion. The House sent a reconciliation bill rolling back parts of Obamacare and defunding Planned Parenthood to the Senate last…Melissa Quinn -
Planned Parenthood Paid $3 for Birth Control but Billed Medicaid $35, Former Manager Says
A little-known whistleblower lawsuit accuses Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa of wrongly siphoning millions of American taxpayer dollars with a series of complicated billing schemes aimed at increasing profits. Among other dishonest practices, a former manager of the clinics alleges, Planned Parenthood staffers routinely purchased birth control pills for just under $3, billed Medicaid $35…Kelsey Bolar -
The Key Fact the Media Missed When Reporting on Obamacare Medicaid Expansion
States that accepted Obamacare expansions have had Medicaid enrollment increase 18 percent, and total Medicaid spending grow 17.7 percent, a recent report from Kaiser Family Foundation has shown. Alternatively, states that chose not expand under Obamacare had Medicaid enrollment increase 5.1 percent and total spending grew 6.1 percent. This is not particularly surprising. Obamacare has…Drew Gonshorowski -
Census Confirms Health Care Coverage Expanded in 2014, but Misses That Most Expansion Was Through Medicaid
The limitations of survey data are reflected in the political adage that, “the only poll that counts is on Election Day.” In other words, real numbers trump survey projections. Even so, surveys can still add value by offering insights not otherwise inferable from the available hard data. For instance, election and voter registration data do…Edmund Haislmaier -
Why Defunding Planned Parenthood Wouldn’t Violate Medicaid Statutes
Later today, the Senate is scheduled to vote on a bill that would remove federal funding from Planned Parenthood. This is a good and necessary response to the shocking reports of Planned Parenthood harvesting and selling body parts from recently aborted unborn children. Ahead of the vote, supporters of Planned Parenthood are claiming the Senate…Sarah Torre -
Medicare and Medicaid – 50 Years Later – It’s Time for Change
Fifty years ago, on July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation creating the nation’s two largest federal health entitlements, Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare was created as a social insurance program for seniors and those with disabilities. It is financed primarily by payroll taxes collected during a recipient’s working life, and secondarily by personal…Robert Moffit -
Obama’s Nominee to Head Medicare, Medicaid Agency Faces Questions of Cronyism
An Obama administration official who faces questions surrounding potential conflicts of interest due to his work in the medical services field has been nominated to serve as head of the agency tasked with overseeing Obamacare. The White House announced yesterday Andy Slavitt’s nomination to permanently head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Slavitt began…Melissa Quinn -
How Schools Use Medicaid Money to Pay for Truancy Officers, Deans and Healthy-Eating Magnets
At a school board meeting in Henrico County, Va., two months ago, a panel of school district officials and board members had been left speechless. School district officials were in the midst of crafting the district’s budget for 2016, and the five-member board had just heard a presentation from Assistant Superintendent for Finance Terry Stone,…Melissa Quinn -
Why Expanding Medicaid Isn’t Compassionate
We’ve heard a lot about how Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion will be costly to states in the long run. Yet this hasn’t stopped some governors, who know that taking more money from the federal government makes their budgets look good (in the short term), while making themselves appear compassionate. But we haven’t heard enough about how…Jim DeMint -
The Results Are In: Obamacare Is Driving Up Medicaid Rolls
An examination of Obamacare data reveals the president’s signature law has mostly been an expansion of the failing Medicaid program. In fact, the coverage numbers are far worse than the Congressional Budget Office projected in the summer of 2012. According to recent analysis by The Heritage Foundation, Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is responsible for almost all of…Sen. John Barrasso -
3 Problems With Indiana’s Medicaid Expansion
It’s official: Indiana has given in and adopted Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. Before jumping into the weeds of Indiana’s Medicaid expansion agreement with the Obama administration, it is important to realize the agreement still fails some basic principles of reform. First, it adds more people on to the Medicaid rolls, not fewer. The Indiana plan puts…Nina Owcharenko Schaefer