With reductions in federal aid, Texas ended Medicaid coverage for more than 2 million residents, mostly children. State officials acknowledge some errors but people looking to get back on the rolls must now join a backlog of more than 200,000 applicants.
Deloitte has Medicaid contracts with half the states worth at least $5 billion. Critics charge the company with errors that have delayed care.
The guidance that allows states to provide health-care coverage to incarcerated people at least a month prior to their release has gained bipartisan interest. As of last month, federal officials had approved applications from four states.
A variety of factors make Latinos less likely to have health insurance, including language barriers, types of occupations and immigration status. Coverage problems extend well beyond undocumented individuals.
On Thursday Gov. Tate Reeves announced federal approval for the second part of his 2023 proposal for increased reimbursements to state hospitals from Medicaid.
Texas’ recent unwinding of Medicaid and CHIP has been criticized, dropping more than a million people eligible for the health insurance programs. Decades ago, Texas officials got kids health insurance in record time.
The program has cost taxpayers at least $26 million so far, with more than 90 percent of those funds going to administrative and consulting costs. About 3,500 people have signed up since July.
Ten states have yet to expand eligibility under the Affordable Care Act. Doing so would save lives, improve financial well-being, save states money and support regional economies.
At least 19 states are directing money from Medicaid into housing aid and addressing the nation’s growing homelessness epidemic. Homelessness jumped last year to 12 percent nationally.
The governor wants to cut more than $1 billion from health-care services and eliminate 1,000 jobs, many of which are currently unfilled. DeSantis’ proposed budget falls $4.4 billion short of what state agencies and the Legislature have requested.
So far, seven states have passed laws approving the use of Medicaid funds to pay for community-based programs intended to stop shootings. But unlocking the funds is complicated and it's unclear how much money will actually be diverted.
Local jails struggling to provide adequate mental health treatment to inmates could benefit from the expansion.
Wealthier, healthier states receive far more than those with fewer taxable resources and less healthy populations. Congress could do a lot to narrow this fairness gap.
A group of state lawmakers, advocates and parents are working to change a Medicaid rule that limits psychiatric hospital stays to 15 days a month, but the change would need $7.2 million annually and federal approval.
The state has dropped more than 130,000 of its 500,000 Medicaid beneficiaries since April and about 30 percent of those disenrolled were left uninsured, which could be a bad sign for the rest of the nation.
When Arkansas expanded Medicaid in 2014, it used expansion dollars to buy private insurance for uninsured residents, making thousands more eligible for coverage. Georgia is considering a similar idea as a way to roll back hospital regulations.
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