Healthy Pennsylvania Archives - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

439,000 Added to PA Medicaid Rolls

150,000 Pennsylvanians have enrolled in Medicaid since the Wolf administration officially launched its HealthChoices expansion on April 27.
Added to the 289,000 who enrolled during the Corbett administration’s Healthy Pennsylvania program, that means about 439,000 Pennsylvanians have obtained Medicaid coverage since the state expanded its Medicaid program as authorized by the 2010 federal health care reform law.
To learn more about the latest Medicaid enrollments, their financial impact on the state, and how the HealthChoices expansion works, see this Wolf administration news release.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-07-27T06:00:19+00:00July 27th, 2015|Affordable Care Act, HealthChoices PA, Healthy PA|Comments Off

Variations on Medicaid Expansion

While most states that have taken advantage of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion have simply expanded their existing Medicaid programs to incorporate the newly eligible, six states have taken a different path, pursuing what are known as section 1115 waivers – waivers of formal Medicaid requirements – to expand their Medicaid programs in different ways.
Typically, those different ways involve coverage modeled on private sector insurance practices, including requiring the newly eligible to choose from among approved managed care plans on the private market; the elimination of some traditional Medicaid benefits; the imposition of work requirements and higher premiums; and more.
In the new report Medicaid Expansion, The Private Option and Personal Responsibility Requirements: The Use of Section 1115 Waivers to Implement Medicaid Expansion Under the ACA, the Urban Institute takes a close look at the six states that have taken this alternative path; among the states reviewed is Pennsylvania and its now-discarded “Healthy Pennsylvania” Medicaid expansion plan. In addition, the Commonwealth Fund has published “The Promise and Pitfalls of Alternative State Approaches to Medicaid Reform,” a commentary on the efforts of the states that have followed this alternative path.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-06-17T06:00:02+00:00June 17th, 2015|Affordable Care Act, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

PA Completes First Phase of Medicaid Transition

Last weekend Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) formally moved more than 121,000 people from the Corbett administration’s Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion program to the Wolf administration’s expansion of the state’s long-time HealthChoices Medicaid managed care program.
Those who were shifted had enrolled in Healthy Pennsylvania private coverage option (PCO) plans before the end of calendar year 2014. In the next few days they will receive written notification of the shift. All will receive the same Medicaid benefits: a basic adult benefit package.
Individuals will no longer be able to enroll in PCO plans, and over the next few months more than 137,000 Pennsylvanians still in PCO plans will be shifted into HealthChoices plans in stages with completion expected by September 1.
For more information about the continued transition from Healthy Pennsylvania to HealthChoices, see this news release from the governor’s office.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-04-28T06:00:43+00:00April 28th, 2015|HealthChoices PA, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

PA Restores Substance Abuse Services to Medicaid Patients

Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DSH) has restored access to drug and alcohol treatment services to Medicaid recipients who were placed in new Medicaid private coverage option plans that do not cover such care.
At fault was a glitch in the implementation of the Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion in which some Medicaid recipients were placed in “low risk” insurance plans that do not cover drug and alcohol treatment. DHS staff combed the rolls of Medicaid recipients who joined those plans in search of recipients who needed those services and shifted them into plans that provide such coverage.
About 8500 Medicaid beneficiaries affected by the problem have been moved into plans that enable them to resume resume treatment.
Some providers chose to continue treating their Medicaid patients who lost their coverage and have suffered financial problems as a result. The state intends to address those situations on a case-by-case basis, according to acting DHS secretary Ted Dallas.
Some of those recipients may eventually be on the move again as the Wolf administration continues phasing out the Healthy Pennsylvania program in favor of expanding the state’s pre-Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid program.
For a close look at this problem, how it affects patients and providers, and how the state corrected it, see this Philadelphia Inquirer article.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-03-12T06:00:39+00:00March 12th, 2015|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

PA Updates Medicaid Expansion Timetable

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) has released a timetable for its planned transition from the Corbett administration’s Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion to its expansion of the state’s previous Medicaid program.
According to a DHS news release,

Phase 1

This phase will begin in April 2015 and be completed by June 1, 2015.
Individuals who were enrolled in the General Assistance and Select Plan program in December 2014 will begin to be transferred from the private coverage option (PCO) to the new streamlined Adult benefit package.
New applicants will no longer be enrolled in the PCO and will be enrolled in the new Adult benefit package with coverage provided by the HealthChoices managed care organizations.

Phase 2

This phase will begin in July 2015 and be completed by September 30, 2015.
All remaining PCO enrollees will transition from PCO plans into the HealthChoices by September 1, 2015.

For a closer look at the plan for Medicaid expansion, see this DHS news release.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-03-10T06:00:35+00:00March 10th, 2015|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

New Web Site for PA Medicaid Expansion

Along with the Wolf administration’s decision to exit the Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion in favor of a more conventional approach comes a new web site dedicated to that expansion: HealthChoices PA.
The new HealthChoices PA site features sections that describe the program and address the immediate implications of the state’s shift from Healthy Pennsylvania to HealthChoices PA. It also offers an FAQ, resources for consumers and providers, and a gateway for applicants.
The address of the new site is http://www.healthchoicespa.com. Find it here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-02-18T14:40:15+00:00February 18th, 2015|HealthChoices PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Wolf Administration to Shift Gears on Medicaid Expansion

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has taken the first step to short-circuit the state’s Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion in favor of a more traditional approach to Medicaid expansion.
In a news release issued yesterday, the Wolf administration announced that it will withdraw Pennsylvania’s request for a second tier of medical benefits for Medicaid recipients because it intends to change the state’s program to offer the same benefits to all participants.
This will be the first step toward building the state’s Affordable Care Act-authorized Medicaid expansion around the state’s HealthChoices-oriented structure instead of the private market insurance plans favored by Mr. Wolf’s predecessor, former Governor Tom Corbett.
Learn more about the new administration’s first step toward changing the state’s Medicaid expansion effort in this news release from the governor’s office.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-02-10T06:00:13+00:00February 10th, 2015|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

New Pennsylvania Health Law Project Newsletter

The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has released its January 2015 newsletter.
Among the articles in it are pieces on the launch of the Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion; an update on the temporary extension of the state’s Select Plan for Women; information on how Medicaid recipients who believe they need the state’s new Medicaid “Healthy Plus” benefits package can seek that enhanced coverage; and news on who should consider shifting from a health insurance plan purchased on the federal marketplace to Medicaid.
Find the newsletter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-02-04T06:00:34+00:00February 4th, 2015|Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Medicaid Expansion Glitch Hits Drug and Alcohol Patients, Providers

A flaw in the implementation of Pennsylvania’s Medicaid expansion has left many of the state’s Medicaid beneficiaries with no coverage for the treatment of their drug and alcohol problems – and some providers without payment for some care they have delivered.
Under the Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion program, beneficiaries with extensive health problems, like drug and alcohol issues, were supposed to be directed into the state’s “Healthy Plus” Medicaid benefits package, which covers services that address such problems. Instead, many were places in private, state-approved insurance plans for Medicaid beneficiaries, which do not cover those services.
State officials are aware of the problem and say they will soon have a plan to fix it.
Learn more about this glitch in Pennsylvania’s Medicaid expansion and how state officials hope to address it in this Philadelphia Inquirer article.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-01-30T06:00:14+00:00January 30th, 2015|Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

SNAP Principles for Changing Course on Medicaid Expansion in Pennsylvania

With the inauguration of a new governor and the start of a new legislative session, the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP) has prepared a series of four papers for leaders of the new Wolf administration and legislative and committee leaders and staff.
The third of those four papers presents eight principles SNAP believes state officials should follow if they choose to abandon the Healthy Pennsylvania model of Medicaid expansion in favor of a more traditional approach to expanding the state’s Medicaid expansion.
Those eight principles are:

communicate changes effectively to the provider community
ensure beneficiaries’ continuity of coverage and continuity of care
ensure the adequacy of provider networks
simplify beneficiary and provider enrollment
preserve vital supplemental payments to safety-net hospitals
continue pursuing Medical Assistance payment reforms
ensure the long-term financing of Medical Assistance in response to current and future threats to that financing
invest in innovative, population-based infrastructure and programmatic improvements

The first paper, “What is SNAP?”, was an introduction to the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania: what safety-net hospitals are, where they are located, whom they serve, and how they differ from other acute-care hospitals in the state.
The second paper, “The Challenges Pennsylvania Safety-Net Hospitals Face,” describes the special role safety-net hospitals play in serving low-income and medically vulnerable Pennsylvanians and the emerging challenges they face in fulfilling this vital role.
Find all three SNAP papers here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-01-28T06:00:12+00:00January 28th, 2015|Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

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