All Articles Tagged "medicaid"
Why Women Should Celebrate the Affordable Care Act Ruling
clutchmagonline.com
Thousands rejoiced yesterday as the Supreme Court announced the decision to uphold most of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.. Altogether the uninsured spend about $2.64 billion out of pocket every year, an amount that should decrease with the ACA. Not to mention that as many as 10.3 low income citizens will now be covered by Medicaid in 2014 once the ACA is fully implemented. Women will particularly benefit from the Supreme Court’s big decision, of the millions uninsured, Forbes reports that 19 million are women. Take a look at some of the victories in health care coverage below:
Unfair practices such as labeling sexual abuse and assault a “preexisting condition” or giving women that label who have had a previous Caesarean section birth will end.
Gender rating is now erased. This practice costs women nearly $1 billion each year. Gender rating is the practice of charging women more simply because they’re women. Of the states that still continue this practice, the National Women’s Law Center observes that 90 percent of the best selling plans charge women more than men, although only three percent of these plans cover maternity services. One third of the plans that exclude maternity care, charge women 30 percent more than men for the same coverage. There’s even a plan that charges 25-year-old women 85 percent more. When the ACA is fully implemented in 2014, this practice will be rendered illegal.
Because of gender rating and other practices, without the ACA, Forbes reports that premium rates would most likely have greatly increased. The RAND Corporation predicted this rise would be by 9.3 percent while the Urban Institute predicted a rise of 10 percent. The average cost of this premium rise is estimated at $534. That’s another expensive cost women can happily now avoid.
Under the ACA, maternity care is now a required coverage area. In addition, nursing mothers will be able to enjoy mandated breaks. For nursing mothers working in an office with 50 or more employees, they will now enjoy a private place for nursing.
With all of these benefits and more now secured, if you didn’t take time to do a victory shout yesterday, take the time now to express your happiness.
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NAACP, Urban League Press Obama on Safety Net Funding
(AP) — Leaders of the largest and oldest black civil rights groups said they urged President Barack Obama in a White House meeting Thursday to resist deep cuts to programs that benefit urban communities _ with some of the highest unemployment rates _ as he negotiates the nation’s debt limit. NAACP president Benjamin Jealous and National Urban League president Marc Morial said they left the Oval Office feeling assured Obama understands deep budget cuts to safety net programs such as Social Security or Medicaid would be counterproductive to the country and poorer communities.
Feds Deny Illinois’ Bid for Stricter Medicaid Eligibility Requirements
(Chicago Sun Times) — The Obama administration has refused to go along with Illinois’ effort to tighten up the Medicaid eligibility review process, drawing the ire of a top state Republican leader. One of the long-sought goals of Illinois Medicaid reforms enacted this year was to require more proof that people lived in Illinois and that their incomes were not too high to qualify for the state and federal health care program for the poor.
Michele Bachmann's Husband Collected $137K in Medicaid
(The Root) — Fresh from our “Hypocrisy” file, MSNBC is reporting that Marcus Bachmann, the husband of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) has been collecting annual Medicaid payments totaling over $137,000 for the treatment of patients since 2005, according to new figures obtained by NBC News. The previously unreported payments are on top of the $24,000 in federal and state funds that Bachmann & Associates, the clinic founded by Marcus Bachmann, a clinical therapist, received in recent years under a state grant to train its employees, state records show. The figures were provided to NBC News in response to a Freedom of Information request.
Arizona Plans $50 Medicaid Fee for Smokers and the Obese
(New York Times) — Arizona, like many other states, says it is no longer able to finance its Medicaid program adequately. As part of a plan to cut costs, the state has proposed imposing a $50 fee on childless adults on Medicaid who are either obese or who smoke. In Arizona, almost half of all Medicaid recipients smoke; while the number of obese people is unclear, about one in four Arizonans is overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state’s plan must ultimately be approved by the federal government. Monica Coury, spokeswoman for Arizona’s Medicaid program, discusses.
D.C. Hospitals Ask for Tax Hike
(Washington Business Journal) — With a D.C. Council vote on a budget for fiscal 2012 just two days away, District hospitals are offering to pay higher taxes to keep federal matching funds for Medicaid flowing into the city. Under the proposal being floated by the D.C. Hospital Association, the council would raise the per-licensed bed tax on inpatient hospitals to $3,788, up sharply from its current $2,000 level and nearly eight times the original $500 tax first imposed in 2010.
Medicaid Proposal Could Cost Ga. Billions of Federal Dollars
(AJC) — A GOP proposal to transform Medicaid into a block grant program could cost Georgia billions of dollars in projected federal spending, which some groups fear will cut access to health care for thousands of the state’s neediest residents. The state could see a $47.6 billion cut in federal funding from 2012 to 2021 if the new health care law is repealed and Medicaid became a block grant, a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured shows. Proponents of the concept, including Gov. Nathan Deal, say giving a lump sum for Medicaid would allow states to find innovative solutions to improve care and better control costs with fewer federal rules. The proposal is part of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan to trim $5 trillion in federal spending over the next 10 years.
Obama Ready to Compromise on Budget
(New York Times) — President Obama conceded on Tuesday that his new budget does not do enough to resolve the nation’s long-term fiscal problems, but he counseled patience, suggesting that he would eventually come together with Republicans on a broad deal. But, Mr. Obama said at a news conference, any such compromise to address Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the tax system is months away and will first require an effort to build bipartisan trust — even as Democrats and Republicans battle intensely over how much to cut from the current year’s domestic spending.
The president spoke as Republicans on Capitol Hill accused him of a lack of leadership for not proposing a bolder budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Yet behind the scenes are signs that both parties, for all their public crossfire, are reassessing the politics of deficits. The debt crises last year in Greece and other European countries served as a warning about the economic perils of chronic budget imbalances, and the rise of the Tea Party movement reflected a broader concern among Americans about the nation’s rapidly mounting debt.
State Prisons and Medicaid to Face Cuts in Cuomo Budget
(New York Times) — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will seek to cut more than 3,000 prison beds, roll back scheduled spending increases on Medicaid and education by billions of dollars and make steep reductions to state operations, a move likely to lead to the loss of thousands of state jobs, according to people briefed on the budget he will unveil on Tuesday. On Monday, Mr. Cuomo also said there would need to be fundamental changes to automatic spending increases that have long been programmed into future budgets, making it more difficult for governors to reduce spending in recent years despite shrinking revenues.
D.C. Bleeding Millions a Week in Lost Medicaid Funds
(Washington Examiner) — With history as a guide, we can count on a few everyday events in the nation’s capital on this first day of February. This being a Tuesday, the city council will convene a legislative meeting, during which it will propose a number of ceremonial resolutions; on Tuesday it will take up “Soul Searchers Band and Chuck Brown as the True Originators of Go-Go Recognition Resolution of 2011.” There’s a 50-50 chance at least one person will be the victim of homicide, which is much better than it was 20 years ago, when odds favored a killing a day.
