Former CMS Administrators Press Senate To Delay Making Changes To Medicaid

Modern Healthcare:
Dump Medicaid Changes In ACA Repeal Bill And Consider Them Later, Former CMS Chiefs Urge 

Two former federal health program chiefs, one a Republican, one a Democrat, have proposed a way for Senate Republicans to break through their current logjam in passing a healthcare reform bill—dropping the controversial Medicaid changes for now and considering those issues later. Congress should separate reforms to the Medicaid program from the more pressing task of stabilizing and improving the individual health insurance market, wrote Andy Slavitt, CMS administrator in the Obama administration, and Gail Wilensky, Medicare and Medicaid chief in the George H.W. Bush administration, in a new JAMA Forum piece. (Meyer, 7/11)

The Hill:
Healthcare Industry At Odds Over Senate Proposal 

The Senate’s ObamaCare repeal bill has turned the U.S. healthcare industry against itself. Hospitals and doctors have mobilized aggressively against the bill, sending letters to Republican Senate leaders and flooding Capitol Hill with lobbyists. Providers are primarily concerned about the $772 billion the bill would cut from Medicaid. … On the other side of the debate are large insurers and their lobbying group, America’s Health Insurance Plans. (Weixel, 7/12)

Georgia Health News:
Medicaid Adjustment Benefit? Bill Could Give Break To Georgia

Tucked inside the U.S. Senate health care bill is a little-discussed provision that could benefit Georgia, according to a conservative organization. … the Medicaid overhaul also contains a provision that would allow the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary to adjust the federal Medicaid funding per state by up to 2 percent based on its spending levels. If a state’s per capita Medicaid spending is above the national average by 25 percent or more, its per capita cap would be decreased the following year by 0.5 percent to 2 percent. But if a state is below the average by 25 percent or more, its cap would be increased by 0.5 percent to 2 percent. Kelly McCutchen, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, says that for Georgia, a traditionally low-spending state per Medicaid enrollee, the adjustment formula could bring large funding increases for its elderly and disabled populations. In those areas.
(Miller, 7/10)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Last-Minute Changes Would Add Medicaid Work Requirement As Part Of Pa. Budget

Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled General Assembly is considering significant changes to the state’s Medicaid program. … Among the changes: requiring the state’s Department of Human Services to seek a waiver for its Medicaid program so it could impose work requirements on able-bodied recipients, “lock in” Medicaid recipients to their managed care plans, and request a waiver from the federal government so it could charge premiums in Medicaid to families with disabled children whose income is above 1,000 percent of the federal poverty income limit. (Giammarise, 7/11)

Indianapolis Star:
Advocates To Feds: Don’t Let Indiana Impose Medicaid Work Requirement

Indiana could become the first state to require some Medicaid recipients to work, but it is facing a flood of opposition from health groups, advocates for the poor and others. Public comments filed with the federal government have been overwhelmingly against the idea — even as Congress debates whether to give states more leeway in running their Medicaid programs, along with a lot less funding. (Groppe, 7/11)

Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Cutting Health Care: Who Gets Medicaid, Explained In Charts

As Congress tries in coming weeks to hammer out a compromise to change Obamacare, you’ll hear more about potential cuts to Medicaid. … As expenditures keep growing, Republicans in Congress want to apply the brakes, and so do many state lawmakers in Columbus. (Koff, 7/12)

Boston Globe:
Home Health Agency Officials Accused Of Cheating Medicaid

Two employees of a Boston home health care agency have been accused of defrauding the Massachusetts Medicaid program, the latest targets of a crackdown on what state officials say is widespread fraudulent billing within the industry. … The charges follow an audit by the state’s MassHealth program last year that determined nine home care companies had defrauded the state of almost $23 million. (Feiner, 7/11)