States Debate Health Law's Medicaid Expansion, Push For Special Deals
Mar 21, 2013 - Kaiser Health News
Coverage includes reports from Maine, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, New
Hampshire and Texas.
The
Associated Press: Maine Gov. LePage Asks 10-Year Guarantee On Medicaid
Expansion
The LePage administration is asking the federal government to pick
up 100 percent of Maine's costs of expanding Medicaid for 10 years, if Maine is
to agree to the expansion through the national health insurance law (Adams,
3/20).
The
Associated Press: Democrats Speak Out Against Wis. Medicaid Changes
Gov.
Scott Walker's plan to reject federally funded Medicaid expansion and instead
tighten income eligibility for the program to move more people near the poverty
line into private insurance drew criticism from Democrats and even one
Republican on the Legislature's budget committee Wednesday. Walker's Medicaid
plan is the centerpiece of his health care proposals, which were discussed by
the Legislature's Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee during the
second of four days of budget briefings (3/21).
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Legislature's Budget Panel
Appears To Back Scott Walker's Health Program Plan
Gov. Scott Walker's plan
to avoid a federally funded expansion of the state's BadgerCare Plus health
programs prompted pointed questions Wednesday from Democrats and one Republican
on the Legislature's budget committee but still appeared to have solid support
on the GOP-controlled panel (Stein, 3/20).
The
Associated Press: Healthy Indiana Plan Gets Mixed Reviews At Hearing
Hospital officials praised Indiana's medical savings accounts but some consumer
advocates panned them Wednesday during a public hearing as Gov. Mike Pence seeks
federal approval to use the Healthy Indiana Plan to expand Medicaid in this
state. The Indiana Hospital Association and representatives of hospitals in
Indianapolis, Lake County and rural Rush County testified HIP would achieve the
Medicaid expansion under the federal health care overhaul and reduce the amount
of indigent care they must provide to uninsured patients (Kusmer, 3/20).
The
Associated Press: Kan. House OKs Budget, Senate Advances Own Plan
Kansas
senators gave first-round approval Wednesday to their version of the next state
budget, including language that would require legislative approval before the
state could expand Medicaid coverage. The bill, which would spend $14 billion in
each of the next two fiscal years, was debated for more than five hours
(Milburn, 3/20).
The
Associated Press: N.H. House Kills Ban On Medicaid Expansion
The N.H.
House rejected a bill Wednesday that would have prevented the state from
expanding Medicaid under the federal health-care law. The Democrat-controlled
House voted 206-155 largely along party lines to kill former House Speaker
William O'Brien's bill to ban the expansion supported by Democratic Gov. Maggie
Hassan (Love, 3/21).
The
Texas Tribune: Medicaid Expansion Sparks Debate Over Asset Tests
Gov.
Rick Perry said last week that any Medicaid overhaul in Texas should include
so-called asset testing, "to ensure care is there for those who really need it
most." With lawmakers eyeing a Medicaid expansion, such testing is stirring
debate (Philpott, 3/21).
The
Texas Tribune: TPPF Presents Plan To Reform Medicaid With Block Grant
In
a report released Wednesday, the Texas Public Policy Foundation detailed how
Texas could use a federal block grant to cut costs and fundamentally reform
Medicaid, the statefs health program for the poor, without expansion (Aaronson,
3/20).
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