Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Ark. Governor's Choice On Medicaid Is A Risky One
Goodbye, private option. Hello, AsaCare. Calling on lawmakers to keep Arkansas' compromise Medicaid expansion alive through 2016 as he eyes a longer term health care plan, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson is trying to take ownership of an issue where he's tried to tread carefully over the past two years. It's an approach that sends him straight into the political minefield that he acknowledges has sharply divided his party. (DeMillo, 1/24)
Newly elected Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson had a problem. The Medicaid expansion program under Obama’s new health care law would cost Arkansas $778 million more than expected. Yet it serves more than 200,000 low-income people in his state with no health insurance. (Ehley, 1/26)
In other Medicaid expansion news --
State House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, a staunch opponent of Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to extend health coverage to 200,000 low-income Tennesseans, on Friday decried what he called "dishonest scare tactics" by a conservative group running radio ads targeting GOP lawmakers. The Tennessee chapter of the Americans for Prosperity, the organization backed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, this week began running a 60-second radio ad accusing Republican state Rep. Kevin Brooks of Cleveland of "betraying" a promise to oppose President Barack Obama's health care law. (Schelzig, 1/23)
Georgia lawmakers’ frigid response to Medicaid expansion may be thawing a bit, though legislative leaders and the governor remain staunchly opposed to the idea. (Williams, 1/23)
On Thursday, an Alameda County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring the state to adhere to a 45-day limit for processing Medi-Cal applications. The ruling by Judge Evelio Grillo was a victory for health care advocates in a lawsuit over the state's extensive backlog in processing Medi-Cal applications. (Gorn, 1/23)
California may no longer leave applicants in limbo as they wait to find out whether they qualify for the state’s healthcare program for the poor, a superior court judge has ruled. In a sharply worded decision issued in Alameda County on Tuesday, Judge Evelio M. Grillo wrote that the California Department of Health Care Services must provide Medi-Cal applicants with temporary benefits if it takes longer than 45 days — the time allowed by state law — to determine their eligibility. (Brown, 1/23)
