Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Survey: Medicaid Spending Growth Tapering Off
Spending growth under the Medicaid program tapered nationally in fiscal year 2016 as the initial effects of the Affordable Care Act鈥檚 coverage expansion began to wear off, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey released Thursday. Total Medicaid spending by the federal and state governments grew at a rate of 10.5 percent in fiscal year 2015 as Obamacare led to a surge in enrollment. In fiscal year 2016, spending growth declined to just under 6 percent. Officials project that fiscal year 2017 spending will grow even more slowly, at a rate of 4.5 percent. (Pradhan, 10/13)
While national spending and enrollment for Medicaid continues to grow, it has slowed considerably following the 2014 implementation of the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. That鈥檚 the finding of a new 50-state survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Medicaid, the state/national health program for low-income and disabled Americans, now covers nearly 73 million Americans and accounts for one in six dollars spent in the health care system after undergoing rapid growth when states expanded income eligibility for the program through the ACA. (Pugh, 10/13)
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, in an attempt to balance the state鈥檚 $1.5聽billion budget shortfall, plans to eliminate planned pay raises for state employees and teachers and will ask the General Assembly to dip into the rainy-day fund to keep funding intact for education, public safety and Medicaid. 鈥淭here will be no program cuts to public education, Medicaid for our families most in need, nor our core public safety services,鈥 McAuliffe (D) said in a statement Thursday. (Sullivan, 10/13)
In other Medicaid news聽鈥
In 2013 Republican Gov. Sam Brownback put Medicaid under the management of three private insurance companies, promising managed care would improve services, cut waste and save enough money to end the lists for the kind of services Nick Fugate needs. But families of Kansans with developmental disability didn鈥檛 trust the companies to provide the complicated help their loved ones needed. They managed to get the federal government to delay the switchover, but in February 2014 federal officials gave their approval and the KanCare experiment began for them. More than two years later, many families say they鈥檝e seen few signs of improvement, particularly in the waiting list. Not only is there still a waiting list, it has grown by a few hundred to about 3,500 people. Except in emergency situations, the average wait is seven years. (Smith, 10/13)
