Class-Action Lawsuit OK’d Against Florida’s ‘Unwinding’ Of Medicaid
The suit alleges Florida did not properly tell people that they were going to be disenrolled from the program. Meanwhile, Mississippi lawmakers might vote this week on a proposal to expand Medicaid.
A federal judge has cleared the way for a class-action lawsuit that alleges Florida did not properly inform people before dropping them from the Medicaid program after a COVID-19 public health emergency ended. (Saunders, 4/30)
One year after restarting the pre-pandemic review process for enrollment in Medicaid and the Children鈥檚 Health Insurance Program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System cut coverage for 611,144 recipients and approved 1,953,301 renewals, according to its eligibility dashboard. The agency is continuing to review coverage for 1,892 recipients as of April 5. The nationwide review process, referred to as 鈥渦nwinding,鈥 cut the Medicaid rolls in every state. (Tourlas, 4/29)
The loss of Medicaid coverage among Americans eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid 鈥 known as dual-eligible beneficiaries 鈥 was substantially reduced during the COVID public health emergency due to temporary policy changes, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open this month. More importantly, those policy changes, which prohibited the states from disenrolling people from Medicaid, reduced and to some extent eliminated the pre-pandemic racial disparity in Medicaid coverage loss. (Miller, 4/30)
More Medicaid developments 鈥
Mississippi lawmakers are expected to vote this week on a proposal that would expand Medicaid coverage to tens of thousands more people, but it includes a work requirement that might not win federal approval. The state House and Senate passed separate expansion plans earlier this year. With the four-month legislative session pushing into its final days, negotiators from the two chambers submitted a compromise moments before a Monday night deadline. They declined to answer questions after emerging from a closed-door meeting, but the proposal was filed in legislative clerks鈥 offices. (Pettus, 4/29)
A senior Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services official pushed back against Republican attacks on the agency's controversial long-term care regulations during a congressional hearing Tuesday. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) and other GOP lawmakers asserted that rules to boost pay for home- and community-based healthcare workers and to mandate minimum staffing levels at nursing homes could jeopardize providers and hamper access to care. (McAuliff, 4/30)
Texas gave two consultancies and a law firm a sneak peek into how managed care companies bid to run Texas鈥 $116 billion Medicaid program, which some insurers contend gave CVS Health's Aetna subsidiary an unfair advantage.聽The Texas Health and Human Services Commission聽last August released 18 companies鈥 redacted proposals to manage the state's聽Medicaid program聽to consultancy Health Management Associates and law firm Hahn, Loeser and Parks after the two submitted public information requests. (Tepper, 4/30)
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AC, Power Banks, Mini Fridges: Oregon Equips Medicaid Patients For Climate Change
Oregon is shipping air conditioners, air purifiers, and power banks to some of its most vulnerable residents, a first-in-the-nation experiment to use Medicaid money to prevent the potentially deadly health effects of extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and other climate-related disasters. The equipment, which started going out in March, expands a Biden administration strategy to move Medicaid beyond traditional medical care and into the realm of social services. (Young, 5/1)
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