Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Arkansas Lawmakers Extend Landmark Medicaid Expansion Plan
Arkansas' first-in-the-nation program using federal funds to buy private health insurance for the poor will survive another year after the Legislature reauthorized the program Thursday, despite an influx of new Republican lawmakers elected on a vow to kill the hybrid Medicaid expansion. The Arkansas House voted 82-16 to reauthorize funding through June 2016 for the "private option" plan, which was crafted two years ago as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law. (DeMillo, 2/5)
Members of the governor-appointed group that developed options for expanding Medicaid to cover Idaho's poorest adults told lawmakers Thursday that opposition to the expansion has blocked money that taxpayers are due under federal health care reform. The panel's alternative funding plan provides greater accountability, saves money and gives the state more control over how funds are spent, they said. (Dentzer, 2/6)
Although Medicaid comprises close to $4 billion of North Carolina鈥檚 $21 billion budget, Gov. Pat McCrory mentioned the program that covers more than 1.7 million low-income children, their parents, seniors and people with disabilities only once during his 80-minute State of the State speech on Wednesday evening at the General Assembly. And while debate over the idea of expanding the Medicaid program as allowed for under the Affordable Care Act is increasingly being embraced by other Republican governors around the country, McCrory sidestepped the topic, only talking about expansion in veiled terms. (Hoban, 2/5)
