Tag: "Medicaid"

Arkansas’ “Private” Medicaid Expansion Improved Access to Care (At A Very High Price)

Arkansas has a love-hate relationship with Obamacare. The previous (Democratic) governor, Mike Beebe, made a deal to accept Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion but with an interesting twist. Obamacare significantly increased the number of Americans who could become dependent on Medicaid by increasing the income cut-off for eligibility. Many governors rejected the federal funds offered to expand this welfare dependency.

Governor Beebe took the money, but instead of using it to expand Medicaid for the newly eligible, he used it to subsidize beneficiaries’ purchase of private plans in Obamacare’s health insurance exchange. His successor, Republican Asa Hutchinson, and the Republican-majority legislature, decided to continue the program.

According to new research published by the University of Pennsylvania, this “private option” yielded dramatically improved access to care. In a “secret shopper” survey, callers identifying themselves as dependents on traditional Medicaid were able to make appointments with primary-care physicians in 55.5 percent of attempts. Medicaid dependents enrolled in exchange plans got appointments 83.2 percent of the time.

Aug 08, 2016 | 36 comments | by John R. Graham

Obamacare Slightly Increased Short-Term Uninsured

The best measurement of people who lack health insurance, the National Health Interview Survey published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has released early estimates of health insurance for all fifty states and the District of Columbia in 2015. There are two things to note.

Jun 09, 2016 | 20 comments | by John R. Graham

Health Status Related to Income Not Insurance

An extremely thorough analysis of changes in incomes and mortality in the United States, 2001 through 2014 presents some sobering conclusions for those who think fixing our health system will make us healthier. The research, let by Raj Chetty of Stanford University, ran data on incomes and mortality through a battery of statistical tools.

It is well understood that people in high-income households are healthier than those in low-income households. The latest research demonstrates how important incomes are to health status. Forty-year old men in households in the highest quartile of income (mean = $256,000 annually) had an average life expectancy just under 85 years in 2001. This increased by 0.20 years (a little over ten weeks) by 2014. For those in the lowest quartile ($17,000), life expectancy was about 76 years in 2001, and it only increased 0.08 years (a little over four weeks) by 2014.

Obamacare is likely to accelerate this gap, because it significantly reduces incentives for people in low-income households to increase their incomes.

Apr 29, 2016 | 12 comments | by John R. Graham

CBO: Obamacare’s Uninsured Up 5 Million, Medicaid Dependents Up 16 Million Since Initial Estimate

(A version of this Health Alert was published by Forbes.)

Last week’s Congressional Budget Office’s Updated Budget Projections: 2016 to 2026 significantly reduced estimates of Obamacare’s benefits, relative to CBO’s estimates published in 2010, when the law was signed:

In 2010, CBO estimated Obamacare would leave 22 million uninsured in 2016 through 2019. This month, CBO estimates Obamacare will leave 27 million uninsured through 2019 – an increase of almost one quarter.
In 2010, CBO estimated Obamacare would leave 163 million with employer-based health benefits in 2016 and 159 million in 2019. This month, CBO estimates Obamacare will leave only 155 million with employer-based plans. The number will decrease to 152 million in 2019.
In 2010, CBO estimated Obamacare exchanges would enroll 21 million people in 2016, increasing to 24 million in 2019. This month, CBO estimates Obamacare’s exchanges will enroll only 13 million people this year, and 20 million in 2019.
In 2010, CBO estimated Obamacare would result in 52 million Americans remaining or falling into dependency on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the welfare programs jointly funded by state and federal governments that subsidizes low-income households’ health care, in 2016. CBO estimated that figure would drop slightly to 51 million in 2019. This month, CBO estimates 68 million will be dependent on the program this year through 2019 – an increase of almost one third in the welfare caseload.

Mar 30, 2016 | Leave a Comment | by John R. Graham

Ever Increasing Tax Hikes Won’t Save Medicaid

(A version of this Health Alert was published by the Orange County Register.)

After more than a year, California’s politicians and health insurers have finally agreed to and passed last month what California Healthline calls a “tax hike in name only” to finance Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. If only it were that simple.

Funded jointly by the state and federal governments, Medicaid is the subject of perverse political incentives to hike taxes and spend more money on this welfare program, impoverishing treasuries. California and the nation need a new way to finance Medicaid.

Mar 23, 2016 | 6 comments | by John R. Graham

Increasing Medicaid Dependency Does Not Reduce “Uncompensated” Care

Robert Laszewski is a leading health insurance expert whom I often cite favorably. However, in a recent article praising Ohio governor John Kasich he has made an unforced error. Governor Kasich is one of only three Republican governors who took federal Obamacare money to expand Medicaid dependency. According to Mr. Laszewski:

On Medicaid, the Kasich administration helped 650,000 people whose uncovered health-care costs were being shifted onto and burdening employers and individuals struggling to pay their already-high health insurance costs. The administration enrolled them into a new Ohio Medicaid system that made 38 different reforms over five years. In 2015 alone, it saved Ohio taxpayers $1.9 billion compared with the original state-budget target. It held the program’s per capita cost growth below 3 percent while cutting the state’s uninsured rate in half.

The idea that people who cannot pay their hospitals bills are the major problem in driving American health costs is evidence-free. According to a September 2014 report promoting Obamacare’s benefits, Obamacare’s reduced so-called “uncompensated care” by $5.7 billion in 2014. Health spending in 2014 was $3 trillion, so $5.7 billion is less than one fifth of one percent of national health spending!

Feb 18, 2016 | 3 comments | by John R. Graham

To Control Drug Prices, Pursue Fraud, Not Manufacturers

(A version of this Health Alert appeared in the Orange County Register.)

A Los Angeles-based nonprofit has gathered enough signatures to get two initiatives on the November statewide ballot. The one of greater interest to ordinary Californians would legislate that any prescription drug paid for with state money cost no more than the amount paid by the Veterans Administration. The California Drug Price Relief Act would have little, if any, short-term effect. There is a better way to control Medi-Cal’s escalating costs.

Jan 04, 2016 | 3 comments | by John R. Graham

Improper Payments Up 18 Percent, Mostly Medicare & Medicaid

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just reported that “improper payments” (that is fraud and abuse) are up to $124. 7 billion in 2014 from $105.8 billion in 2013. Most of this is Medicare and Medicaid:

The almost $19 billion increase was primarily due to the Medicare, Medicaid, and Earned Income Tax Credit programs, which account for over 75 percent of the government-wide improper payment estimate. Federal spending in Medicare and Medicaid is expected to significantly increase, so it is critical that actions are taken to reduce improper payments in these programs.

Oct 06, 2015 | 2 comments | by John R. Graham

42 Percent of Immigrant Households Used Medicaid in 2012, Vs. 23 Percent of Native-Born

The Center for Immigration Studies’ latest report concludes that 42 percent of immigrant households, both legal and illegal, used Medicaid in 2012. Only 23 percent of households headed by a native-born American used Medicaid.

Sep 02, 2015 | 1 comment | by John R. Graham

Money for Nothing: California’s Reckless Medicaid Expansion

(A version of this Health Alert was published by the Riverside Press-Enterprise on August 14, 2015.)

California has enrolled three times as many people as originally projected in Medi-Cal, the welfare program that subsidizes low-income Californians’ access to health care. The total is now 12 million, about one third of the population.

The current over-enrollment is provoking yet another fiscal crisis for the state, which is in a downward spiral of tax hikes and welfare dependency that is crushing job growth. Californians should be outraged that the state has condemned one third of their neighbors to dependence on this poorly performing welfare program.

Medi-Cal’s costs have jumped from $91.5 billion to $115.4 billion since Obamacare was passed in 2010. These costs are partially disguised because the federal government picks up much of the tab. However, federal handouts only camouflage real fiscal pain for the state. Legislators reconvened on August 17, in the hopes of finding $2.3 billion dollars to pony up the state’s share. $1.3 billion is needed to increase fees to doctors and dentists who are paid so little that they are increasingly unwilling to see Medi-Cal patients. Another $1 billion has to be found to replace a deceptive “tax” that manipulates the formula to calculate federal funding, which the Obama administration has declared illegitimate.

Aug 26, 2015 | 2 comments | by John R. Graham

Tag: "Medicaid"

Arkansas’ “Private” Medicaid Expansion Improved Access to Care (At A Very High Price)

Obamacare Slightly Increased Short-Term Uninsured

Health Status Related to Income Not Insurance

CBO: Obamacare’s Uninsured Up 5 Million, Medicaid Dependents Up 16 Million Since Initial Estimate

Ever Increasing Tax Hikes Won’t Save Medicaid

Increasing Medicaid Dependency Does Not Reduce “Uncompensated” Care

To Control Drug Prices, Pursue Fraud, Not Manufacturers

Improper Payments Up 18 Percent, Mostly Medicare & Medicaid

42 Percent of Immigrant Households Used Medicaid in 2012, Vs. 23 Percent of Native-Born

Money for Nothing: California’s Reckless Medicaid Expansion

Health Alerts

Categories

Authors

Recognition and Awards

Tag: "Medicaid"

Health Alerts

Categories

Authors

Tags

Recognition and Awards