Pennsylvania Medicaid policy Archives - Page 30 of 44 - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

PA’s Proposed Medicaid Work-Search Requirement

Governor Corbett’s “Healthy Pennsylvania” health care reform and Medicaid expansion proposal includes a component without precedent: a work-search requirement that would require most but not all Medicaid recipients to meet designated job search requirements as a condition for continuing to qualify for Medicaid benefits.
As yet unknown is whether the federal government, which must approve the state’s plan, will permit Pennsylvania to impose such a requirement.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has taken a closer look at the proposed work-search requirement, the rationale behind it, the challenges inherent in administering it, and the perspectives of various groups about the advisability of such a new approach. Read the Inquirer report here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-02-04T06:00:34+00:00February 4th, 2014|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

PA Labeled “State to Watch” for Medicaid in 2014

The Corbett administration’s “Healthy Pennsylvania” Medicaid expansion proposal has earned the commonwealth recognition from the Washington Post’s “Wonkblog” feature as one of four “states to watch” in 2014.
The Post notes that “How much flexibility the Obama administration grants to Pennsylvania could be influential to the other states, still sitting on the sidelines, waiting to decide whether to expand their own Medicaid programs in the future.”
The other states to watch cited by the Post are Arkansas, approved to use federal Medicaid money to purchase private insurance for its Medicaid population but now in jeopardy of backing out of its own expansion plan; Virginia, where a serious effort is expected to expand the state’s Medicaid program; and Utah, whose governor has declared that doing nothing “is off the table.”
Read the Washington Post article “The four most important states to watch on Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion” here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-01-30T14:16:11+00:00January 30th, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Health care reform, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

The Path to PA’s Medicaid Waiver

The Corbett administration’s Healthy Pennsylvania proposal seeks to go where only two states have gone so far with their Affordable Care Act-enabled Medicaid expansion: the unconventional route.
While many of the states that have chosen to expand their Medicaid programs under the terms of the Affordable Care Act did so by embracing those terms, others are viewing Medicaid expansion as an opportunity to pursue wholesale changes in how they serve their low-income residents.
Arkansas and Iowa have already received federal waivers – exemptions from selected aspects of existing Medicaid law– to expand their Medicaid programs. Under these waivers, the states operate demonstration programs to test the effectiveness of their variations on ordinary Medicaid practices.
Pennsylvania seeks to follow in their path, and Virginia, New Hampshire, Indiana, and possibly a few other states are expected to do the same in 2014.
Learn more about the path to obtaining such a waiver and the challenges Pennsylvania may face along the way in this Stateline report.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-01-28T06:00:55+00:00January 28th, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

CHIP Option Granted Temporary Stay in PA

Children currently receiving Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) benefits in Pennsylvania will have the option of remaining in the program for one more year.
This comes as a result of negotiations between state officials and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Under the Affordable Care Act, children eligible for CHIP benefits who previously did not qualify for Medicaid now do qualify for Medicaid and the federal government expected states to fold these CHIP participants into their Medicaid programs. Pennsylvania officials, however, argued that CHIP participants often had a broader choice of providers than Medicaid recipients and that taking those children out of CHIP would damage the continuity of care they were receiving.
State and federal officials negotiated this issue for months until this week, when federal officials announced that Pennsylvania children in families whose income is between 100 percent and 133 percent of the federal poverty level can choose whether to remain in CHIP or move to the state’s Medicaid program. That choice ends at the close of 2014, when these participants will be enrolled in Medicaid.
CHIP insurers will mail information about this option to the 30,000 affected families.
To learn more about this issue and how it might affect care for low-income children, see this news release from the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-01-23T06:00:39+00:00January 23rd, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Changes in Medicaid Fee Schedule

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare has announced changes in its Medical Assistance fee schedule. Those changes, published in the January 18 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin, can be found here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-01-21T06:00:39+00:00January 21st, 2014|Pennsylvania Bulletin, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Providers Receive Expanded Authority to Extend Presumptive Medicaid Eligibility

While hospitals and providers in 33 states have long enjoyed the ability to extend presumptive eligibility for Medicaid to children or pregnant women, that authority is now being extended in some states to any adults whose income appears likely to fall below 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
The extension of this authority comes via the Affordable Care Act, which also offers states the option of expanding Medicaid eligibility for their residents. Individual states decide whether to extend this authority, which is typically wielded by hospitals, schools, clinics, other providers of care to the Medicaid and CHIP population, Head Start programs, and others.
This policy could benefit many Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals because they serve much higher proportions of low-income patients than the average hospital. Currently, 52 acute-care hospitals in the state are authorized to determine presumptive eligibility.
To learn more about changes in extending presumptive eligibility to low-income patients, see the policy brief “Hospital Presumptive Eligibility” from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the publication Health Affairs.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-01-16T12:31:52+00:00January 16th, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

SNAP Comments on Proposed Medicaid Waiver

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has submitted extensive comments to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare regarding the state’s application for a section 1115 Medicaid waiver needed to enable the state to expand its Medicaid program through private market insurers.
The highlights of SNAP’s comments include its call for extending retroactive eligibility to those who obtain Medicaid coverage through the private market; easing proposed limits on benefits and penalties for non-payment of premiums; retaining the current supplemental Medicaid payments qualified hospitals receive; and pursuing greater investment in the health care infrastructure of communities with especially high proportions of low-income patients.
See SNAP’s complete written submission here..

PA Safety Net Admin2014-01-14T11:47:11+00:00January 14th, 2014|Health care reform, Healthy PA, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAP Testifies About Healthy Pennsylvania

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP) has weighed in on Governor Corbett’s Healthy Pennsylvania health care reform and insurance expansion proposal.
Testifying at a January 9 public hearing in Harrisburg, SNAP president Michael Chirieleison expressed general support for the Healthy Pennsylvania proposal and addressed four aspects of it that safety-net hospitals would like to see improved:

extension of retroactive eligibility to the Medicaid expansion population;
including inpatient services provided to that same population as “Medicaid days” for the purpose of determining eligibility for supplemental Medicaid payments and other government programs;
reconsideration of proposed benefit limits and suspension of eligibility for non-payment of premiums; and
the addition of a Delivery System Reform Incentive Program or a similar program to support the development of health care infrastructure in communities with large numbers of low-income Pennsylvanians.

Read SNAP’s testimony here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-01-09T14:14:05+00:00January 9th, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Health care reform, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Healthy PA Road Show Visits Philadelphia

The process of taking public input on Governor Corbett’s Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion and health care reform proposal continued last Friday with a hearing in Philadelphia.
Among those who testified before Department of Public Welfare Secretary Beverly Mackereth and other state officials were representatives of Project Home, the Cover the Commonwealth Campaign, the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, the Health Federation of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, Jefferson Health System, and Mercy Health System, the newest member of the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP).
Read more about the hearing and the testimony offered in this Philadelphia Business Journal report.
The hearing was the third of six schedule sessions. Hearings already have been held in Erie and Pittsburgh; a hearing is scheduled for today, January 6, in Scranton; and hearings also will be held on January 7 in Altoona and January 9 in Harrisburg. SNAP president Michael Chirieleison will testify in Harrisburg and SNAP also will submit extensive written comments about the Healthy Pennsylvania proposal.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-01-06T06:00:49+00:00January 6th, 2014|Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Healthy PA Testimony in Pittsburgh

Thirty people testified at a recent public hearing in Pittsburgh as the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare continued its tour of the state seeking input on Governor Corbett’s Healthy Pennsylvania proposal and its Medicaid expansion component.
Among those who testified were both supporters and critics of the plan.
To learn more about the views expressed during the three-hour public hearing, read reports from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

PA Safety Net Admin2013-12-24T06:00:26+00:00December 24th, 2013|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

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