Continued Slower Growth in U.S. Health Costs Reduces Federal Budget Deficit Estimates
| February 13, 2013 | Posted by John Connolly under Blog, Delivery Systems, Health Financing, Health Financing News, Public Coverage |
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Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reduced its estimates of federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid as a result of a marked slowdown of the rise in health care costs during the last few years. This pattern of deceleration has brought the rise in health care costs to its… more
KCMU Examines Medicaid and Medicare Reimbursement
| February 13, 2013 | Posted by Kandis Driscoll under Blog |
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The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) released an issue paper in December assessing how much the Medicaid physician reimbursement rate for primary care will rise in 2013. KCMU commissioned the Urban Institute to initiate a 50-state survey of Medicaid physician payment in 2012. The ACA allows states to… more
Republican Governors Kasich of Ohio and Snyder of Michigan Move Forward to Implement ACA Medicaid Expansion
| February 8, 2013 | Posted by John Connolly under Blog, Health Financing, Legislation Policy News, Legislation/Policy, Medi-Cal, Public Coverage, Public Coverage News, The Uninsured |
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The group of Republican governors signaling support for expanding Medicaid in their states has grown in recent days. The LA Times reports that Governors John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Snyder of Michigan intend to expand eligibility for the program to 138% of federal poverty in 2014, a central element… more
San Francisco’s Leg Up on the Affordable Care Act
| February 6, 2013 | Posted by John Connolly under Blog, Delivery Systems, Legislation/Policy, Public Coverage |
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Think the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014 will take care of the challenges of the uninsured? Think again. Even after full implementation, the Congressional Budget Office<http://cnsnews.com/news/article/cbo-obamacare-will-leave-30-million-uninsured> estimates that some 30 million Americans will remain without health insurance. Some of these will be people who, despite the broader… more
Covered California Provides Updates about Service Center in Webinar
| February 1, 2013 | Posted by John Connolly under Blog, Insurance Exchange, Legislation/Policy, Medi-Cal, Public Coverage, Public Coverage News |
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The staff of Covered California hosted a webinar on January 31 about the development of the Service Center. The staff reviewed the timeline for the rollout of the Service Center, the quick sort model for warm hand-offs of callers to county service centers, protocols for handling different types of applicants,… more
Bipartisan Group of Senators Announces Outline of Immigration Reform Plan
| January 28, 2013 | Posted by John Connolly under Blog, Federal, Legislation Policy News, Legislation/Policy |
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Today, a bipartisan group of eight senators announced agreement on a broad outline of an immigration reform plan. The group included Senators Schumer (D-NY), McCain (R-AZ), Durbin (D-IL), Graham (R-SC), Menendez (D-NJ), Rubio (R-FL), Bennett (D-CO), and Flake (R-AZ). The proposal lists principles that would serve as the foundation for… more
January Exchange Board Meeting: Covered California Announces Federal Grant Award, Considers Plan Contract Requirements and Bridge Plans to Include Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans
| January 22, 2013 | Posted by John Connolly under Blog, Insurance Exchange, Legislation/Policy, State |
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The January Exchange Board meeting opened with the Executive Director’s report, with Peter Lee summarizing Covered California’s major planned milestones for 2013. These goals include launching a Covered California consumer website in January, selecting an administrative vendor for the SHOP Exchange in February, announcing outreach grantees in April, beginning assister… more
Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer Announces State Will Implement Medicaid Expansion
| January 21, 2013 | Posted by John Connolly under Blog, Health Financing, Health Financing News, Legislation Policy News, Legislation/Policy, Medi-Cal, Public Coverage, Public Coverage News |
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Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer has announced that she will move forward to implement the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion in her state. She made the decision public in her annual State of the State address. This expansion would extend coverage to 240,000 Arizonans and bring $1.6 billion in federal… more
CMS Study Finds Health Spending Growth Rate Remains Low for Third Consecutive Year
| January 16, 2013 | Posted by John Connolly under Blog, Health Financing, Public Coverage, The Uninsured |
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Health Affairs published a recent study from the Office of the Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the investigators found that total spending on health care in the United States was $2.7 trillion in 2011 and grew 3.9% from 2010 to 2011. This rate of growth… more
Notes from Conference Call with CHHS Secretary Dooley and Medi-Cal Director Douglas about Governor’s 2013-14 Budget Proposal
| January 14, 2013 | Posted by John Connolly under Blog, Health Financing, Legislation/Policy, Medi-Cal, Public Coverage, State, State Budget, Uncategorized |
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Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency Diana Dooley hosted a stakeholder conference call on January 10, 2013 to discuss the Governor’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2013-14. She was accompanied by Medi-Cal Director Toby Douglas, as well as officials from other departments. Secretary Dooley began by announcing… more
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