Support for Medicaid expansion is on the rise as states approach general elections this fall. Advocates for expansion have been busy in recent months as they look to expand their programs by way of ballot initiatives. In May we reviewed a number of states considering...
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released a Medicaid Scorecard to promote transparency and accountability. The scorecard consists of care quality data from 2015 statistics provided by participating states, along with federally reported information. By consolidating this data, CMS and the states look to...
After months of debate amongst Republican representatives in both the House and Senate, legislators in Virginia voted in favor of Medicaid expansion under the ACA on May 30th, 2018. The provision to expand the state's Medicaid program to over 400,000 Virginia residents was included in the...
It has been six weeks since Virginia's General Assembly met for a special session to produce the state's budget for FY 2019 and decide the fate of Medicaid expansion. On Tuesday, the Finance Committee met but Virginia Senate Republicans delayed a decision on a proposed...
Last month, President Trump delayed presenting his plan to address the soaring costs of prescription drugs. Despite the delay, New York’s Medicaid Drug Utilization Review Board (DURB) took it upon themselves to negotiate with drug manufacturers. DURB voted in favor of lowering the price its...
Medicaid is losing billions of dollars from improper payments. According to HHS Agency Financial Reports, improper Medicaid payments reached $30 billion in 2015 and grew to almost $37 billion in 2017. The vast majority of these improper payments were determined to be improper claims payments...
Lawmakers in Virginia were unable to approve the Commonwealth’s biennial spending plan earlier this year; which included provisions for Medicaid Expansion. Due to a divide in Republican support within the House and Senate, the legislators agreed to reconvene for a special session, which took place...
Last month, Virginia’s work on the Commonwealth’s biennial spending plan budget came to an abrupt halt due to the inclusion of provisions for Medicaid expansion. In short, the Republican House supports expanding Medicaid whereas the Republican Senate does not. As a result of the split...
Last year the GOP and Trump Administration made numerous attempts to reform Medicaid by trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and impose federal spending caps for the Medicaid program. While these efforts were unsuccessful, the future of the Medicaid program is still vulnerable...
The Trump administration has made considerable efforts to reform the Affordable Care Act. Despite all of the failed attempts in 2017, the Whitehouse is once again targeting the nation's healthcare safety net. The recently released budget for FY 2019 clearly outlines the administration's intent to restructure...
