Young Adults Fear Medicaid Overaul

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Thousands of young New Yorkers struggling with chronic illnesses are facing a new battle — they fear an overhaul of Medicaid will jeopardize their health care services when they turn 21.
These patients, some of whom were not expected to survive into adulthood, are living longer because of medical advancements.
But that means they will be affected by a new Medicaid cost-cutting plan to transfer physically impaired adults into managed long-term care programs.

Supreme Court Holds Fate of Medicaid

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two cases before the Supreme Court have the potential to effectively do what Republican lawmakers have tried and failed: transform Medicaid into a block grant program for states with few enforceable federal rules about how they provide health coverage for the poor.
That outcome may not be the most likely scenario. But legal experts say no one can predict what the high court will do — particularly because many were surprised that the Supreme Court agreed to consider the Medicaid portion of the big multistate challenge to President Barack Obama’s health reform law in the first place.

Opinion: Kansas Shouldn't Shift Medicaid Program to Managed Care Too Quickly

TOPEKA, Kans. -- Health care providers and advocates — as well as state legislators — have ample reason to be nervous and cautious about major changes in the state’s Medicaid program.
The rising costs of the program make it a natural target for Kansas officials trying to trim the state budget or divert funds to other uses. Kansas isn’t the only state that is pursuing ways to cut its Medicaid costs — sometimes with mixed success.
Kansas already uses a private managed care provider for its HealthWave program, which serves children in low-income families. Gov. Sam Brownback now is proposing a plan that would include the elderly, disabled and mentally ill in managed care plans and to make the entire transition in one year’s time, by Jan. 1, 2013. Although other states are moving toward managed care plans administered by private insurance companies, making such a fast and complete shift is unusual. What works for children in low-income families may not work as well for elderly nursing home residents or people who need long-term assistance because of developmental disabilities.

Maryland to Get $28 Million Bonus for Children's Medicaid Enrollment

Maryland will receive a $28 million performance bonus from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for fiscal year 2011 for its consistent efforts to identify and enroll eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP coverage.
"Since 2007, we have expanded coverage to more than 300,000 Marylanders, almost half of them children, and this bonus is a great recognition of those efforts," Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said in a written statement.
The bonus came as good news to a department that has had a series of negative audits in the past year identifying lack of control over Medicaid payments, benefits paid on behalf of dead people and $8 million in federal dollars that went unspent on those with developmental disabilities.

Democrats Challenging Administration on Medicaid

WASHINGTON — In an unusual break with the White House, the Democratic leaders of Congress told the Supreme Court on Monday that President Obama was pursuing a misguided interpretation of federal Medicaid law that made it more difficult for low-income people to obtain health care.

The Democratic leaders said Medicaid beneficiaries must be allowed to file suit to enforce their right to care — and to challenge Medicaid cuts being made by states around the country.

Medicaid Overhaul Jeopardizes Funding

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- For all of her 32 years, Holly Van Hart has required constant care.
She's like a toddler — sometimes good, sometimes terrible.
And recently, violent.
Holly attacked her mother with a wrought-iron wine rack, bruising her, and pulled out clumps of hair.
"I had to call 9-1-1," said her mother, Phyllis.
Holly and Phyllis, 54, have lived a rollercoaster life together, but Phyllis always coped.
Now, Phyllis is at wit's end.
The Endicott mother had two chances more than five years ago to put Holly in a group home.
Now, even if she can bring herself to do it, a spot in a government-funded home no longer may be an option. Some families already have to wait years for placement, and no new homes are on the horizon as the state struggles with a tenuous fiscal situation.

Medicaid: More Than Just Numbers

Came across this on The White House Blog by Jon Carson, Deputy Assistant to President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

It's no secret that our country is in the middle of a tough dialogue about the budget and spending. President Obama knows that the American people and ordinary families should be at the heart of these discussions.
In recent days, White House officials have been meeting with organizations like The Arc, MomsRising, and Family Voices to discuss the important role Medicaid plays in the lives of millions of Americans. They heard from parents of children with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities who told us about Medicaid providing the services and supports so their children could thrive in the community when no one had given them a chance. They heard from mothers who would go without health care but for Medicaid and families where Medicaid has helped change and save lives.

Rockefeller Vows to Fight for Medicaid

As Vice President Joe Biden and congressional lawmakers look for ways to trim federal spending as part of a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller has issued a clarion call on Capitol Hill to protect Medicaid, the shared federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled.
A former VISTA volunteer, Rockefeller served two terms as governor in West Virginia before being elected to the Senate in 1984. Because Medicaid beneficiaries tend to be less politically powerful than seniors on Medicare, Rockefeller fears that they may be less able to fend off spending cuts as Congress looks for ways to reduce the federal deficit.

Study Finds Children on Medicaid Experience Longer Wait for Care

Children with Medicaid are far more likely than those with private insurance to be turned away by medical specialists or be made to wait more than a month for an appointment, even for serious medical problems, a new study finds.
The study, with findings that match anecdotal reports from other parts of the country, is one of only a few efforts to measure access to health care among people with Medicaid. Nationwide, those patients are caught between states’ threats to cut Medicaid payments and the Obama administration’s plans to use the program to cover more and more people as part of its health care law.

States Brace for Medicaid Cuts

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration injected billions of dollars into Medicaid, the nation’s low-income health program, as the recession deepened two years ago. The money runs out at the end of this month, and benefits are being cut for millions of people, even though unemployment has increased.
From New Jersey to California, state officials are bracing for the end to more than $90 billion in federal largess specifically designated for Medicaid. To hold down costs, states are cutting Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals, limiting benefits for Medicaid recipients, reducing the scope of covered services, requiring beneficiaries to pay larger co-payments and expanding the use of managed care.