Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New N.C. Governor Seeks To Expand Medicaid Without Legislative Approval
Gov. Roy Cooper plans to take immediate executive action aimed at expanding Medicaid, defying a state law and setting up a confrontation with the Republican-dominated state legislature. Addressing a group of business leaders at an economic forum Wednesday morning, the governor 鈥 who was sworn into office on New Year鈥檚 Day 鈥 said he would file an amendment to the state Medicaid plan by Friday. The new plan would allow hundreds of thousands more people to sign up for government health insurance. (Ranii and Bonner, 1/4)
Gov. Roy Cooper urged North Carolina business leaders Wednesday to support his efforts to repeal a state law limiting LGBT rights, expand Medicaid and boost school funding. Speaking at the annual economic forecast event sponsored by the North Carolina Chamber and the North Carolina Bankers Association, Cooper told attendees that he would be "an aggressive recruiter" as governor to bring jobs to the state and would work on programs to help small business. But he asked them to get behind him in three proposals that he said would help North Carolina's economy. (Burns, Leslie and Binker, 1/4)
Medicaid expansion was a hot-button issue throughout Pat McCrory鈥檚 term as governor. Currently, Medicaid covers about 1.9 million North Carolinians, and is a $14 billion a year program. ... Cooper said he believes the law prohibiting the expansion of Medicaid in the state, approved in 2013, infringes on 鈥渃ore executive functions鈥 of the governor鈥檚 role for negotiating the waiver request with the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. McCrory said he was pursuing federal waiver exceptions for what he called 鈥渁 North Carolina plan, and not a Washington plan鈥 that could have featured expansion. (Craver, 1/4)
As many as 650,000 working people who can't get private insurance or otherwise make too much to get Medicaid could benefit, generating jobs, helping rural hospitals and boosting the economy, Cooper said. Under the proposal, the state would have to match 5 percent of the cost, which the governor said could come from an assessment on hospitals that stand to benefit. (Robertson, 1/4)
Michigan鈥檚 expanded Medicaid program has boosted state tax revenues and personal income in the state, and can be expected to pay for itself for the next five years and beyond, according to University of Michigan study released late Wednesday. The Healthy Michigan Plan, which provides Medicaid coverage to more than 600,000 Michiganians, added nearly $554 million to the state budget in 2016, due to increased tax revenues and decreased state health care spending, according to the analysis published late Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Bouffard, 1/4)
Even though the state鈥檚 bills for the expansion of Medicaid to more than 640,000 low-income Michiganders is growing from $152 million this year to $399 million in 2021, the economic benefit of providing the health care will more than make up for the cost to the state, according to a study released Wednesday by the University of Michigan. The study, commissioned by the New York-based Commonwealth Fund and published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, reports that cost savings to the state include $235 million the state isn鈥檛 spending for health care services, such as for prisoners in the state鈥檚 correctional facilities and mental health care for poor residents. The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act, is picking up those costs. (Gray, 1/4)
The repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the goal of Republicans in Washington, would cost New York state $3.7 billion and strip 2.7 million residents of health coverage, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday. Cuomo, a Democrat, also said counties in the state could lose nearly $600 million of federal Medicaid funding combined if the law, otherwise known as Obamacare, is repealed. New York City would lose the most, more than $433 million. (Russ, 1/4)
Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he has asked members of President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration to allow states to set stricter eligibility standards for their expanded Medicaid programs without giving up federal funds provided under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (Davis, 1/5)
