Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Kansas Hospitals Continue Push For Medicaid Expansion
Kansas hospitals are moving ahead with plans to put a Medicaid expansion plan before lawmakers despite election results that returned Gov. Sam Brownback to office and solidified conservatives鈥 control of the Legislature. Democrat Paul Davis favored expansion but came up short in his bid to upset Brownback, a Republican who thus far has opposed expansion. Also, several Democratic House members who likely would have favored expansion lost narrowly to GOP challengers. (McLean, 11/10)
Florida legislators鈥 refusal to expand the eligibility criteria for Medicaid as called for under the Affordable Care Act might cost billions of dollars in lost funding for hospitals that treat many uninsured patients, according to a report released Monday by Florida Legal Services, a nonprofit legal advocate for the poor. The financial impact would be felt most acutely by so-called 鈥渟afety net鈥 hospitals statewide, and in Miami-Dade, particularly by the taxpayer-owned Jackson Health System, according to Florida Legal, which estimated that Jackson could lose more than $570 million a year. (Chang, 11/10)
Elsewhere, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam is continuing discussions with the Obama administration -
Gov. Bill Haslam said Monday he's continuing to talk with Washington so he can make a decision about Medicaid expansion in Tennessee before the legislative session starts in January. Haslam told reporters following a veterans' ceremony that he talked to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell last week, and even brought up the subject when President Barack Obama called him Tuesday night to congratulate him on his election win. (Johnson, 11/10)
[Michele] Fardan walked up to a microphone in front of the Tennessee Capitol on Monday and told how her daughter delayed getting medical care because she didn鈥檛 have insurance and died. ... She spoke at a rally for Medicaid expansion attended by about 60 people, several of them holding up big signs, some with clever rhymes such as 鈥淐lose the Haslam Chasm.鈥 There also was a book with 47,250 signatures asking Gov. Bill Haslam to take action on the health care coverage gap. (Wilemon, 11/10)
