Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
R.I. Wrestles With Ways To Reduce State's Medicaid Costs
Thursday will bring major developments in Governor Raimondo's initiative to reduce Medicaid spending by $90 million to balance the state budget and free up money for her economic development plans. At the State House, the House Finance Committee will take up proposals the governor has already made to reduce Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes. But before that, Raimondo's Reinventing Medicaid working group will unveil a report that, at the governor's request, will include recommendations on how to redesign and reduce the cost of Medicaid. (Salit, 4/29)
To close a burgeoning state budget gap, Gov. Gina Raimondo has proposed cutting hospital and nursing home payments. Her 鈥淩einvent Medicaid鈥 task force delivers its recommendations today for finding the rest of the savings in the state鈥檚 health insurance program for the poor. Their proposals are aimed at reducing the cost of caring for some of the most complex patients. ... Take a deeper look at the impact of "reinventing" Medicaid, and why it hasn't been easy to contain costs in a program on which one in four Rhode Islanders depends. Patients like Juana Kollie. (Gourlay, 4/30)
Facing a massive shortfall, the Massachusetts House of Representatives unanimously passed a $38.1 billion state budget on Wednesday that aims to reduce the skyrocketing growth of health care costs, spends a bit more on early education, and does not raise taxes or fees. The budget would increase spending by about 3 percent, a smaller rise than in recent years and a nod to the projected $1.8 billion gap the state would face without any action in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Much of the spending is devoted to relatively fixed costs such as MassHealth, the state鈥檚 Medicaid program 鈥 about 40 percent of the budget is set aside for that program, which serves the poor and disabled. (Miller, 4/29)
The companies providing coverage to Kansas鈥 Medicaid system lost millions last year, financial information shows, but cut down on their losses from the year before. Records indicate Amerigroup, Sunflower Health Plan and UnitedHealthcare lost a combined $52 million in 2014 after losing about $116 million in 2013. A document with profits and losses for the three managed care organizations that operate under KanCare was provided to lawmakers and obtained by The Topeka Capital-Journal. (Shorman, 4/28)
