Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Alabama Lawmakers Schedule Hearing On Expected Cuts To Medicaid
Alabama lawmakers plan to hold a series of hearings on the state's Medicaid program as the agency's commissioner predicts dramatic service cuts without additional funding. The House and Senate general fund budget committee have scheduled the first joint meeting Wednesday to discuss funding for the health care program that covers approximately a million Alabamians. ... Lawmakers earlier this year overrode Gov. Robert Bentley's veto to enact a budget that will steer $700 million to Medicaid next fiscal year. Bentley said $785 million is needed to maintain services in the program. (Chandler, 4/18)
In 2013 and 2014, headlines proclaimed months-long delays in processing applications for Medicaid and food stamps for low-income families. At the time, former Department of Health and Human Services Sec. Aldona Wos blamed the backlogs and the expense to clear them on a confluence of events: The deadline for rolling out the new state IT system for processing benefits, called NC FAST, and new federal requirements for Medicaid applications both went into effect in the summer of 2013. (Hoban, 4/18)
