Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Tenn. Gov. Says Federal Approach To Medicaid 'Feels Awfully Heavy Handed'
The federal government's review of how much money it spends to help pay for the hospital costs of low-income people in Tennessee and other states that didn't expand Medicaid feels like a threat to Gov. Bill Haslam. "The way they're approaching this feels awfully heavy handed: OK, well if you don't do that, then we're going to restrict the pool of money that we give you for indigent care," Haslam told reporters Thursday. (Boucher and Fletcher, 4/23)
Related KHN coverage: (Galewitz, 4/21)
Because of special arrangements that predate Obamacare, four states that haven鈥檛 expanded Medicaid have been getting billions each year in extra funding to pay for the care of people who are uninsured. That鈥檚 about to change. On April 14, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which manages federal funding to the states for health programs, alerted Florida officials that CMS plans to let the $1.3 billion the state gets annually to help hospitals cover the cost of treating uninsured patients lapse at the end of June. (Tozzi, 4/23)
A feud over Medicaid expansion that stretches from Tallahassee to the White House means the Florida Legislature may not pass a budget by the time the session ends on May 1. PolitiFact Florida has been fact-checking the fight over whether more poor Floridians will be able to qualify for heavily subsidized health insurance. The federal government is offering billions if Florida expands Medicaid, paying 100 percent of the expansion at first and gradually downshifting to 90 percent in later years. The program currently eats up a sizable portion of the state budget. (Gillin and Sherman, 4/23)