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Florida health officials said Wednesday they would give insurers a 7.7 percent rate increase in the fledgling Medicaid managed care program, in what has been a contentious battle between Gov. Rick Scott, the insurers and hospitals. The Republican governor lobbied hard to get federal approval for the statewide managed care program, which launched last year. He promised it would save money and improve health care for more than 3 million low-income and disabled Floridians. But now that the program seems in desperate need of additional funding, Scott has been blaming the insurance companies and hospitals. (Kennedy, 8/26)

A lawsuit that sought to block deep cuts in what Medicaid pays for disabled children and poor elderly Texans’ therapies has delayed the rate changes for a month but otherwise forced no change in the state’s plans. On Wednesday morning, owners of several home health agencies who had challenged the reductions rejoiced after a Health and Human Services Commission lawyer announced in court that the agency will withdraw them. The cuts, averaging 18 percent to 20 percent across the board for full-service home health agencies, were to take effect Tuesday. ... Within a few hours, though, commission spokesman Bryan Black clarified that the reprieve was only temporary. The state will press ahead with the same deep cuts in fees for acute care therapy providers that it proposed this summer. (Garrett, 8/26)

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission will proceed with $100 million in cuts made by lawmakers to a therapy program for poor and disabled children, a spokesman said Wednesday afternoon. But the state will not implement the cuts Sept. 1 as planned, and will seek public comment at a hearing in the coming weeks. The Legislature called for slashing payments to speech, physical and occupational therapists who treat children through the federal-state Medicaid insurance program. Critics have said the move could jeopardize access to care for as many as 60,000 kids. (Walters, 8/26)

The [Texas Medicaid] agency announced proposed rates in July that therapy providers said would severely reduce access for patients and force many providers to close. Parents of disabled children and therapy providers filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the rates, and in depositions, the health agency included a memo suggesting it would phase in the reductions. A judge dismissed the lawsuit Wednesday after the health agency said it would abandon its original proposal and start the process over. Officials said they still intended to fully implement the cuts but would reconsider how the savings would be achieved. (Hawryluk, 8/26)

Texas health officials are postponing a $350 million cut in Medicaid payments to therapists after being pushed to the brink of legal action in state court. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission told a judge Wednesday that the agency now plans to start over and consider new rates. The about-face comes less than a week before the cuts were scheduled to take effect and after increasing bipartisan pressure. (Archer, 8/26)

Three competitors say Iowa erred in its selection of four other companies to manage the state’s $4.2 billion annual Medicaid program and are seeking a review that could throw Gov. Terry Branstad’s privatization efforts into a legal quagmire. The companies – Aetna, Meridian and Iowa Total Care – filed written requests for reconsideration to the Iowa Department of Human Services in records obtained Wednesday by The Des Moines Register. (Clayworth, 8/26)

Rival health insurers want a Ramsey County judge to deny UCare’s bid for a second chance at business through a large public health insurance contract. In separate court filings supplied by health plans to the Star Tribune on Wednesday, Blue Plus, HealthPartners and Medica argue that the orderly transition for thousands of public health insurance enrollees would be threatened if a judge interferes with competitive bidding results announced last month by the state Department of Human Services (DHS). (Snowbeck, 8/26)

Gov. Bruce Rauner acknowledges his state is dealing with a serious heroin addiction crisis, but he is stripping a key provision from a measure aimed at tackling the problem. (Schaper, 8/27)