The “circle back” meme in the Biden White House isn’t limited to Jen Psaki’s avoidance of tough questions at press briefings. The Biden administration demonstrated that it also intends to circle back to the way things were under the Obama years when it comes to managing Medicaid. Rather than taking a cooperative approach to the state and federal partnership, Obama 2.0 is committed to running the program by decree and eliminating flexibilities that improve the program. Unfortunately, states hoping for true flexibility will be disappointed, as Medicaid flexibility has departed for Mar-a-Lago.
Read MoreTag: Medicaid
Trump Administration to Announce Medicare, Medicaid Will Cover Eventual COVID-19 Vaccine According to Report
The Trump administration is expected to announce that the eventual coronavirus vaccine will be covered by Medicare and Medicaid, Politico reported late Monday.
The administration is expected to change a rule that previously prevented Medicare and Medicaid from covering vaccines that received emergency use authorization from the FDA. The official announcement is expected from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Tuesday or Wednesday, according to Politico.
Read MoreObamacare Loophole Allows Medicaid Fraud, Costs Taxpayers, Report Says
The Affordable Care Act mandated that states accept a hospitals’ decision on the eligibility of all able-bodied adults who verbally report their income to be below the Medicaid level, which has led to many fraudulent eligibility claims, according to a report published Monday.
The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) report examined recently released data from state Medicaid agencies. It specifically looked at the government Medicaid funds that were wasted through false hospitals’ presumptive eligibility (HPE) determinations.
Read MoreCommentary: Lowering the Cost of Prescription Medicines for Seniors Is Not Impossible
Earlier this year James Payne, a 73-year-old retired attorney in Utah, was so fed up with the high cost of a blood thinner medication he takes, he researched prices in Canada, where he found it was cheaper.
“Under Medicare, I am now paying $225 for a three-month supply,” Payne explained. “That’s $25 more than I was paying last year. Under my employer’s insurance I was only paying $20.” Payne says he is not sure why the costs are so much higher and continue to climb under Medicare, but he thinks there must be ways to make life-saving medications more affordable.
Read MoreU.S. Court of Appeals Panel Strikes Down Medicaid Work Requirement
A panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court’s decision Friday blocking the Trump administration’s work requirements for Medicaid recipients.
Read MoreFACT CHECK: Ohio GOP Chairwoman Timken Spreads Falsehoods on Refugees in Letter to Party Members
Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken wrote an error-riddled apologetics letter sent by email on Thursday to party members defending Gov. Mike DeWine’s refugee resettlement policy. It is highly unusual for the chairman of a state’s Republican Party to defend the politically unpopular decision of the state’s governor. In…
Read MoreReport: Medicaid Spending Skyrockets, Consumes 30 Percent of State Budgets
In 2015, when Medicare and Medicaid turned 50, Investors Business Daily pointed out that one was going bankrupt (Medicare), the other was bankrupting states (Medicaid).
Read MoreFederal Audit Finds Minnesota Paid $3.7 Million for Dead Medicaid Enrollees
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services released Wednesday the findings of a multi-state audit, which identified $3.7 million in health care benefits paid to “deceased enrollees” in Minnesota.
Read MoreStudy: More than Half a Million Enrolled in Medicaid in Nine States Are Ineligible
More than 500,000 people enrolled in Medicaid through expansion in nine states though their income made them ineligible for the program, a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found.
Read MoreCalifornia Lawmakers Move to Expand Medicaid for Illegal Immigrants
by Kaylee Greene The California Assembly voted 44-11 in favor of a bill last week that broadens state Medicaid coverage to include illegal immigrants to the tune of more than $3 billion annually. Under federal law, Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, provides health care to low-income citizens. Assembly Bill…
Read MoreTrump Administration Ends Unions ‘Skimming’ $100 Million a Year from Medicaid
by Bethany Blankley A final rule change has been implemented by the Trump administration to ensure that Medicaid providers receive complete payments as required by law. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the Medicaid Provider Reassignment Regulation…
Read MoreNine Years After Obamacare Passed, Agency Finds Numbers Were Wildly Off
by Jarrett Stepman Democrats defeated Republicans in the Obamacare repeal fight by warning that 22 million Americans would be thrown off their health insurance. They pointed to data leaked from the Congressional Budget Office. Well, it turns out that data was completely wrong. According to a report by the…
Read MoreA Federal Appeals Court Just Took a Big Swing at Planned Parenthood
by Kevin Daley The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction forbidding Texas from stripping Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funds Thursday, while stridently criticizing the abortion provider for its rhetoric and medical practices. “Planned Parenthood’s reprehensible conduct, captured in undercover videos, proves that it is not a…
Read MoreMinnesota DHS Provided Medicaid Benefits to Out-of-State and Incarcerated Individuals, Report Finds
A new report issued last week by the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor found that the Department of Human Services (DHS) provided Medical Assistance (MA), or Medicaid, benefits to ineligible residents. While the report concluded that the DHS “generally complied” with eligibility requirements, there were numerous instances in which…
Read MoreKavanaugh Joins Liberals to Protect Pro-Planned Parenthood Ruling
by Kevin Daley The Supreme Court declined to review three cases relating to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood at the state level Monday, over a vigorous dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas. The dissent was significant because it indicates that Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the high court’s liberal…
Read MoreGOP Gubernatorial Candidate Jeff Johnson Challenges Double Whammy Cost to State of Federal Refugee Program
GOP gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson has raised the trifecta of issues facing states where the federal government’s contractors are resettling refugees – cost, transparency and accountability. Johnson’s call to pause refugee resettlement in Minnesota demonstrates his understanding that costs being forced onto the state to pay for the federal program is…
Read MoreRepublican Dave Joyce Releases Bizarre Campaign Ad Distancing Himself from Trump
In a risky political move, Rep. Dave Joyce recently tried to distance himself from President Trump in a congressional district that the president won by 12 percentage points in the 2016 Election. Joyce, who is seeking reelection in Ohio’s 14th Congressional District, recently released an ad in which he touts…
Read MoreIncomplete Ohio Report Makes Unbiased Assessment of Medicaid Expansion Impossible, Think Tank Says
A lack of methodology data from a new report on the expansion of Medicaid in Ohio means it’s impossible to validate the results, one expert says. The Buckeye Institute’s Rea S. Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center and policy vice president, spoke out about the 2018 Medicaid…
Read MoreHome Care Workers Support Trump Regulation Limiting Unions’ Dues Collecting
By Richard McCarty For years, some blue states have been automatically deducting union dues from the checks of Medicaid caregivers. Many of these caregivers are relatives or friends of the person they care for and did not wish to join a union. The main beneficiary of this dues skim…
Read MoreThis New Health Plan Expansion Is a Godsend for Small Businesses Like Mine
by Kalena Bruce Last month, the Trump administration took a concrete step to lower skyrocketing health care costs for middle-class families like mine. The Department of Labor issued a final rule expanding association health plans, which allow small businesses like my farm to band together with others to negotiate bulk rates…
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