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Children are consistently switched from one Medicaid insurance company to another without their parents' consent, and pediatricians continue to have trouble getting their patients the medication and treatment they desperately need, a new survey of Florida pediatricians covering their experiences with the state's Medicaid program shows. ... More than 80 percent said that that they had experienced either some or many cases in which insurance plan limits, or authorizations for needed treatments, such as prescription drugs, had prevented them from providing children with needed care. (Clark, 6/12)

A federal change to Medicaid funding for services at tribal clinics could help close significant health gaps for Native Americans in Wisconsin, advocates say. The federal government said in February that it would offer full federal funding for transportation, long-term care and other services provided indirectly by the clinics, as it does for services within clinics. The change also applies to specialty care by providers outside of the clinics, as long as the clinics still coordinate the patients’ care. Until now, the federal government has paid for about 60 percent of such care, as it does for other Medicaid services, with the state picking up the other 40 percent. (Wahlberg, 6/13)