Category: Medicaid

Montana’s Legislature Could Decide Medicaid Expansion’s Fate

A ballot initiative to fund Medicaid expansion with a tobacco tax failed in Montana on Tuesday. The expansion will expire in the state in June 2019, unless the legislature finds another way to fund it.

The New Health Care Agenda: Gridlock, Lots of Hearings

In an Axios column, Drew Altman analyzes what the midterm election means for the health policy agenda between now and 2020–mostly political positioning and gridlock in Congress, with most of the action affecting people in the states. 

Midterm Election Boosts Medicaid Expansion, But Challenges Remain

Following the vote, nearly 500,000 uninsured adults in five states are poised to gain Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, say advocates. But many conservatives remain opposed to the expansion.

Midterm Results Show Health Is Important To Voters But No Magic Bullet

Even though they are taking control of the House, Democrats will be unlikely to advance many initiatives on health that don’t meet Republican approval since the GOP controls the Senate and the White House. But they can block any efforts to weaken the Affordable Care Act or change Medicaid or Medicare.

Tobacco Tax Battle Could Torch Montana Medicaid Expansion

A ballot initiative in Montana would tax cigarettes $2 a pack to help pay for the state’s Medicaid expansion. But the tobacco industry has spent more than $17 million fighting the effort.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Open Enrollment And A Midterm Preview

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Joanne Kenen of Politico discuss the start of open enrollment for individual health insurance plans for 2019 and preview what next week’s midterm elections might mean for health policy. Plus, Barbara Feder Ostrov of KHN and California Healthline talks to Julie about the latest NPR-KHN “Bill of the Month” feature.

Billions In ‘Questionable Payments’ Went To California’s Medicaid Insurers And Providers

The money was paid on behalf of more than 400,000 people who may have been ineligible for the public program, a state audit found. One had been dead for four years before payments stopped.

Gun Store Owner Marshals Voters To Expand Medicaid In Idaho

Idaho is one of four conservative states where voters next month will determine whether to buck the GOP’s resistance to the Affordable Care Act and implement or renew its expansion of Medicaid to adults.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Trump, GOP Fight Back On Health Care

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner and Alice Ollstein of Politico discuss a flurry of proposals from the Trump administration on prices Medicare pays for drugs and the Affordable Care Act.

Booming Economy Helps Flatten Medicaid Enrollment And Limit Costs, States Report

The drop in the number of people enrolled in the federal-state program for low-income residents is the first since 2007.