Author's posts
Thousands in Arkansas Lose Medicaid Because of New Work Requirement
As many as 4,600 Medicaid recipients in Arkansas have lost their benefits for the rest of this year after failing to meet the state’s new work requirements. Arkansas became the first state ever to implement work requirements, after gaining approval fro…
Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan Health Venture Picks Operating Chief
Jack Stoddard, a longtime health care executive, has been named as chief operating officer of the new health venture being launched by Amazon.com Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Stoddard started Tuesday, according to a statem…
Medicaid Expansion Finds Grass-Roots Support in Conservative Utah
In this conservative state, which has not supported a Democratic presidential candidate in more than a half-century, a grass-roots campaign to expand Medicaid is building considerable momentum as Election Day approaches. If it wins approval here, it co…
Analysts Predict Health Care Marketplace Premiums Will Stabilize in 2019
Consumers who buy insurance through the ACA markets may be pleasantly surprised this fall as average premiums are forecast to rise much less than in recent years. The price of a 2019 policy sold on the ACA exchanges will increase less than 4 percent, a…
Fewer Americans Without Health Plans Since Obamacare Debut
The number of uninsured declined to 28.3 million in the first quarter, down from 29.3 last year—and 48.6 million in 2010, the year the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law by then-President Barack Obama, according to data from the federal Cen…
ACA Court Case Causing Jitters in D.C. and Beyond
For months, congressional Republicans have ignored the Texas-led lawsuit seeking to overturn the Affordable Care Act. With the midterm elections looming, talk of the case threatened to reopen wounds from failed attempts to repeal the law. Not to mentio…
Facing Shortfall, Kentucky Mulls Ending Medicaid Expansion
Warning of a nearly $300 million potential shortfall in Kentucky’s Medicaid program, officials say they could eliminate health coverage for more than 480,000 people to balance the state’s budget. Kentucky’s Medicaid program spends about $11.5 billion e…
CMS Seeks Help Creating Consumer Price Comparison Tool
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) started the process of searching for a company to help create a price comparison tool for consumers. The notice comes as CMS is pushing hospitals to be more transparent about what they charge patient…
Medicare ACOs Saved CMS $314 Million in 2017
CMS made a profit from the Medicare Shared Savings Program last year as more accountable care organizations (ACOs) moved to risk-based contracts and gained experience, new federal data show. About 60 percent of the 472 Medicare ACOs generated a total o…
South Dakota Asks Trump Administration to Approve Medicaid Work Requirements for Parents, Caretakers
South Dakota health officials are asking the Trump administration to approve a program that would impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients who are parents or caretakers. Under the proposal, parents aged 19 to 59 and other caretakers on Medi…
