Wyoming's Medicaid Overhaul Taking Shape

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wyoming lawmakers are still ironing out details of legislation that would overhaul the state’s Medicaid program.
The legislation, now before the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee, would implement a number of reforms to Medicaid. State health officials and advocacy groups say the bill could decrease costs, while making new services available to those already enrolled in the program.
Health officials spent Monday detailing how the reform package could address the increasing cost of Medicaid, which provides health coverage to about 77,000 poor and medically needy people in Wyoming.

Study Details Economic Benefits of Medicaid Expansion

WASHINGTON -- Michigan is one of several states that has yet to decide which path it will take on expanding Medicaid eligibility to an effective rate of 138% of the federal poverty level starting in 2014. A new report concludes that if the state decides to proceed with expansion, it could save hundreds of millions over a decade even while increasing enrollment in the program by more than 600,000 people under this Affordable Care Act provision.

New Mexico Residents Await Waning Waiver

Jenna Montoya, right, and her mother June.

Jenna Montoya is an active 25-year-old who likes going to the movies, the mall and the zoo. She was born with cerebral palsy and has relied on the developmental disability waiver—a state Medicaid program—to improve her quality of life. She gets services like physical therapy and day habilitation. Even after she was placed in one of the state's most high-needs categories, her mom is concerned that alterations to the waiver program on Oct. 1 will mean big cuts to the therapy her daughter receives.
“If Jenna didn’t get the movement she gets in physical therapy, because of the spasticity of cerebral palsy, her joints would atrophy,” June Montoya says. Her daughter also had issues with drooling until she underwent extensive swallow and speech therapy. “None of us can imagine where she would be if she hadn’t had therapies because she’s been getting them since she was 8 years old,” she says, “and just the maintenance is important.”
Right now Jenna Montoya gets an hour of physical therapy every week, which her parents agree has improved her strength, endurance and digestion. As far as the Montoyas have been able to tell, coming changes could mean that she’d have to scale back all therapy to a total of 32 hours per year.

Kansas May File Medicaid Waiver Application Soon

TOPEKA, Kans. — The waiver application needed for Gov. Sam Brownback's proposed Medicaid makeover is nearly complete and could be filed with federal officials before the month is up, Brownback administration officials said yesterday.
Still unclear, an administration source said, was whether public hearings on the waiver application would be required in order to satisfy new federal regulations governing so-called Medicaid 1115 waiver applications.