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A survey of low-income adults in four southern US states shows that nearly half of those disenrolled from Medicaid after COVID-19 pandemic protections ended had no insurance in late 2023, leading to struggles to afford healthcare and prescription drugs and threatening to broaden a gap that had narrowed during expanded governmental benefits. The data were derived from 89,130 adult residents of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas participating in the National Health Interview Survey in 2019, 2021, and 2022. (Van Beusekom, 7/2)

On Tuesday, Vermont joined a small list of states approved to bill Medicaid for some prison health care coverage. “We were expecting this, but it’s definitely very exciting,” said Isaac Dayno, chief of staff for the Vermont Department of Corrections. “Now comes the hard work of designing our implementation plan.” Vermont is now among nine states approved for the prison health care expansion, and Dayno said Vermont is aiming to launch the increased coverage in 2026. (Weinstein, 7/2)

After two years of planning, Oregon is officially expanding its Medicaid program to give tens of thousands of more people access to the free health insurance program. The Oregon Health Authority announced on Monday the launch of its OHP Bridge Plan to those who earn more than the federal limits for traditional Medicaid. The Oregon Health Plan, the state’s version of Medicaid, currently covers 1.4 million Oregonians who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level, or nearly $21,000 a year for one person or more than $43,000 a year for a family of four. (Terry, 7/1)

Federal officials are seeking to overhaul how Medicare pays health-care providers after an alleged $3 billion scheme to defraud the program, which would be one of the largest such schemes in its history. For more than a year, officials said, about a dozen companies submitted bills to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for tens of millions of urinary catheters, using the personal information of Medicare beneficiaries and physicians — some of whom still have questions about how the companies obtained their private details and used them to bill the federal health program for catheters that they never wanted nor received. (Diamond and Weber, 7/2)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Lack Of Affordability Tops Older Americans’ List Of Health Care Worries

What weighs most heavily on older adults’ minds when it comes to health care? The cost of services and therapies, and their ability to pay. “It’s on our minds a whole lot because of our age and because everything keeps getting more expensive,” said Connie Colyer, 68, of Pleasureville, Kentucky. She’s a retired forklift operator who has lung disease and high blood pressure. Her husband, James, 70, drives a dump truck and has a potentially dangerous irregular heart rhythm. (Graham, 7/3)