Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Ariz. Gov. Doesn't Address Medicaid Controversy
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey pledged Monday to bring an era of fiscal responsibility and smaller government bureaucracy to his state, but his first speech to the Legislature never mentioned his most pressing health issue: whether to defend Medicaid expansion despite conservative fury over Obamacare. (Pradhan, 1/12)
Ducey, who took office Jan. 5, gave additional signals about how he plans to guide the state through a challenging fiscal crunch, although his remarks lacked key details. And while he devoted time to discussing tax policy, regulatory reform and even the need for a civics curriculum in schools, he was silent on border security — a major theme of his 2014 campaign — as well as higher education and whether he would continue former Gov. Jan Brewer's legal defense of her 2013 Medicaid expansion. (Nowicki, 1/12)
Gov. Butch Otter urged lawmakers to hold a hearing on the findings of his Medicaid Redesign Workgroup. Some 104,000 state residents get caught short because they fail to qualify for tax credits under the state health insurance exchange or meet the state's Medicaid eligibility requirements. (Dentzer, 1/13)
A University of Tennessee economic study commissioned by advocates for expanding Medicaid says Gov. Bill Haslam's Insure Tennessee could create 15,000 jobs and bring $1.14 billion in new spending to the state. According to the study released Monday by UT's Center for Business and Economic Research, an estimated 200,000 of the 470,000 eligible Tennesseans would participate in Haslam's proposed version of Medicaid expansion. The $1.14 billion figure comes from an estimated $5,705 in medical spending by each of those 200,000 people. (1/12)
Even as prospects appear bleak for Medicaid expansion in Missouri, a new report says the state would save $81 million right off the bat and $100 million annually later on if it expands the program. The report by the Missouri Budget Project, a nonpartisan think tank in St. Louis, says the savings would come from money the state currently spends on Medicaid services provided to pregnant women, mental health patients and prisoners in need of medical care. (Margolies, 1/12)
