Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Georgia Won't Consider Full Medicaid Expansion Yet, GOP Leader Says
Newly elected Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns will not take up the issue of full Medicaid expansion for all the state’s poor adults anytime soon, he told reporters in a press event Thursday. In Georgia, Medicaid covers poor children as well as some older and disabled adults. Unlike most states, Georgia does not cover all poor adults. Partly as a result, Georgia ranks third worst in the nation for its rate of people without health insurance. (Hart, 1/20)
A legislative committee advanced a bill to expand Medicaid in Wyoming, paving the way for a familiar fight on the House floor. Medicaid expansion is an option that was eventually thrown to the states after the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Expansion brings in federal dollars and closes what’s known as "the Medicaid gap" — a liminal space some Wyomingites find themselves in between making too much for traditional Medicaid but making too little to afford their own. (Victor, 1/19)
A wide majority of Mississippians across partisan and demographic lines supports expanding Medicaid to provide health coverage for the working poor, according to a newly released Mississippi Today/Siena College poll. The poll showed 80% of respondents — including 70% of Republicans — either strongly agree or somewhat agree the state should “accept federal funds to expand Medicaid.” (Pender, 1/18)
On loss of Medicaid coverage —
As Medicaid administrators in Kansas are finalizing a plan to kick upward of 125,000 people off their government health insurance, at least one Republican lawmakers wants it to happen faster. During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal law blocked states from ending Medicaid benefits for people who were no longer eligible. Now, the federal government is giving states 12 months to restart eligibility checks as federal funding winds downs, said Sarah Fertig, the state Medicaid director at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. (Tidd, 1/18)
About 900,000 Floridians, if not more, could lose medical coverage through the state’s Medicaid program beginning April 1, as the pandemic federal public health emergency comes to a close, state officials said. (O'Donnell, Ellenbogen and Mower, 1/19)
Late last year, Kim Muniz received some bad news regarding her brother’s assisted living facility and began scrambling to find him a new place to live. Her brother, Mike, has been living at Northglenn Heights, an assisted living facility north of Denver. Medicaid benefits are paying for his stay, but a letter in November stated that the complex would no longer accept Medicaid residents. All current Medicaid residents would have to move out by March 17. (Wang and Vaccarelli, 1/19)
Also —
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday released updated federal poverty level standards applied to eligibility criteria for Medicaid. For 2023, the poverty guideline in all states except Alaska and Hawaii is $14,580 for a one-person family/household and $19,720 for a two-person family/household. (Bowers, 1/19)
