PA Safety Net Admin, Author at Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

Lack of Transportation Benefit in PA Medicaid Proposal Hurts, Critics Say

Pennsylvania’s application for a waiver from selected federal Medicaid requirements includes a request for permission to eliminate transportation services for Medicaid recipients.
And that hurts, some critics say.
The private insurance plans in which newly eligible Medicaid recipients would enroll under the state’s proposed Medicaid expansion plan would not be required to offer medical transportation to low-income recipients, and one critic of the state’s proposal told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “Entitlement to health services is meaningless if you can’t access it.”
Read more about medical transportation, other so-called wraparound benefits, and how the Medicaid expansion component of the state’s Healthy Pennsylvania plan treats them in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-04-07T11:50:30+00:00April 7th, 2014|Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

SNAP Endorses PA Medicaid Expansion

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has endorsed Pennsylvania’s application for a waiver from selected federal Medicaid requirements so the state can expand its Medicaid program as envisioned under the Affordable Care Act.
Instead of expanding its current Medicaid program, however, the Corbett administration proposes that the newly eligible purchase approved private insurance plans, with the state to pay the premiums. This is part of the administration’s Healthy Pennsylvania proposal.
In endorsing the waiver application in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, SNAP expressed particular support for its proposal to create a Healthy Pennsylvania Safety Net Pool that would include an Uncompensated Care Pool and/or a Delivery System Reform Incentive Pool. The additional funding associated with such pools, SNAP believes, would help safety-net hospitals address the distinct needs of the low-income communities such hospitals serve.
See the letter of endorsement here, on the SNAP web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-04-04T09:53:00+00:00April 4th, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Health care reform, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Healthy PA, Medicaid Expansion in Jeopardy?

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has publicly expressed concern over whether the federal government will approve the state’s attempt to expand its Medicaid program under terms made possible by the federal health care reform law.
Both Corbett and Department of Public Welfare Secretary Beverly Mackereth have suggested that negotiations between the state and federal officials have not been going well.
The state submitted an application for a waiver from selected federal Medicaid requirements in February and has modified its proposal once since then, withdrawing a controversial mandatory job-search requirement. The application is currently undergoing a period of open public comment while state and federal officials negotiate its terms.
Under the Corbett administration’s Healthy Pennsylvania proposal, the state would expand Medicaid eligibility as envisioned under the federal Affordable Care Act but instead of simply opening up its current Medicaid program to the newly eligible, it would underwrite their enrollment in private health insurance plans chosen by those individuals.
Learn more about the latest developments in the state’s attempt to take Medicaid expansion in a decidedly different direction in this Philadelphia Inquirer article.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-04-03T08:54:11+00:00April 3rd, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Health care reform, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

2.5 Million Uninsured, Underinsured in PA

1.4 million Pennsylvanians were uninsured and another 1.1 million were underinsured in 2012, according to a new report.
The report, America’s Uninsured: A State-by-State Look at Health Insurance Affordability Prior to the New Coverage Expansions, was produced by the Commonwealth Fund.
According to the Central Penn Business Journal, the report defines “underinsured” as

those whose households spent a high share of annual income on medical care — 10 percent or more of income on medical care, excluding premiums, or 5 percent or more if income was under 200 percent of the federal poverty level. It did not include insured people who needed care but went without it because of the out-of-pocket costs they would incur or the insured who stayed healthy during the year but whose health insurance would have exposed them to high medical costs had they needed and sought care.

Read about the Commonwealth Fund study in this Central Penn Business Journal article and find the study itself here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-03-26T06:00:18+00:00March 26th, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off

MACPAC Recommends Steps to Ensure Continuity of Care

Citing income volatility among low-income Americans, the federal agency charged with analyzing Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has recommended that Congress adopt measures to ensure that low-income Americans retain health insurance as their income fluctuates above and below the federal poverty level.
In its March report to Congress, MACPAC (the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission) recommends that Congress empower states to extend coverage to eligible adults for an entire year to ensure that as those adults become eligible for Medicaid, lose Medicaid eligibility as their income rises, and then become eligible again because of unemployment or illness, they can maintain continuity of coverage and care.
MACPAC also recommends that Congress extend the current transitional medical assistance program so low-income parents who move into the workforce do not immediately lose their Medicaid coverage and that it eliminate the waiting period for CHIP eligibility and prohibit CHIP premiums for children from families whose income is less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level.
MACPAC is a non-partisan federal agency charged with providing policy and data analysis to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP and making recommendations to Congress, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the states on a wide range of issues affecting these programs.
For more information about MACPAC’s March 2014 report and recommendations, see this MACPAC news release or find the entire report here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-03-21T06:00:49+00:00March 21st, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off

PA Examining Long-Term-Care Issues

With a fast-growing elderly population, Pennsylvania currently has two advisory committees looking at how to help that population tend to its medical and social needs as it ages.
The state legislature’s bipartisan Joint State Government Commission is working with an advisory group to the state House and is expected to complete its work and issue a report this summer.
Meanwhile, Governor Corbett’s recently created Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Commission held its first meeting this month and is expected to work through the end of the year.
For a closer look at the issues these two groups are addressing and how they are going about their work, see this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-03-19T06:00:52+00:00March 19th, 2014|long-term care, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Bill in Congress Would Benefit PA Safety-Net Hospitals

New legislation introduced in Congress would add a risk adjustment component to Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program.
Such a measure would benefit Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals.
H.R. 4188, the Establishing Beneficiary Equity in the Hospital Readmission Program Act, proposes modifying Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program. Under the bill, hospitals’ performance in preventing Medicare readmissions would be risk-adjusted for patients who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid; for patients who are considered non-compliant; for patients whose readmission has been classified as based on psychosis or substance abuse; and for patients who have specific medical conditions.
Hospitals found to have too many Medicare readmissions suffer financial penalties under Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program. Recent studies suggest that in its current form, the program unfairly targets safety-net hospitals for financial penalties.
Learn more about the bill from this news release from its sponsor, Rep. James Renacci (R-Ohio), or find the bill itself here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-03-17T06:00:07+00:00March 17th, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off

Providers Must Re-enroll to Serve PA Medicaid Population

All health care providers that serve Pennsylvania’s Medicaid population must re-enroll with the state if they wish to continue doing so.
The requirement, established under the Affordable Care Act, applies to providers that participate in both the state’s Medicaid managed care and fee-for-service programs.
Additional information can be found about the requirement and how to re-enroll in this Medical Assistance Bulletin notice.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-03-14T06:00:34+00:00March 14th, 2014|Medical Assistance Bulletin, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

How Did Healthy PA Change?

In December, the Corbett administration released a draft of its application to the federal government for a waiver from aspects of existing Medicaid law so it could implement its “Healthy Pennsylvania” Medicaid reform and health insurance expansion program.
The public was then invited to comment on the draft application, and in late February, the administration submitted its official Medicaid waiver application to the federal government. That official application included a number of changes from the December draft, reflecting comment submitted to state officials.
What were those changes?
The state has published a brief document, “Healthy Pennsylvania Demonstration Adjustments,” that summarizes those changes. Find that document here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-03-13T06:00:00+00:00March 13th, 2014|Health care reform, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

PA Learns of 43,000 New Medicaid Applicants

The federal government has sent to Pennsylvania state officials data on 43,000 people whose applications for Medicaid eligibility have been tied up for months in the federal government’s computers as part of the troubled launch of the healthcare.gov web site.
Most of the applicants will be contacted by Department of Public Welfare caseworkers while applications for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will be handled by the state Insurance Department.
Learn more about this situation in this article on the web site of KYW radio.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-03-12T06:00:18+00:00March 12th, 2014|Affordable Care Act|Comments Off

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