Medicaid eligibility Archives - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

Interview With Seema Verma

In late December, PBS broadcast an interview with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma. Kaiser Health News has published a transcript of excerpts from that interview during which Verma discusses Medicaid – including enrollment, eligibility, services, and children – Medicare for all, administration attempts to reduce health care costs, protection for people with pre-existing conditions, and more. Read those excerpts in the Kaiser Health News article “One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma.”

PA Safety Net Admin2020-01-09T06:00:16+00:00January 9th, 2020|Affordable Care Act, Federal Medicaid issues, Health care reform|Comments Off

Administration Ramps Up Scrutiny of Immigrants’ Use of Public Benefits

Immigrants’ sponsors could be more likely to be held financially responsible for the cost of public benefits those immigrants receive under a new memorandum issued by the White House.

The requirement itself is not new; the purpose of the memorandum is to encourage federal agencies to enforce existing laws that state that, according to the memorandum,

…when an alien applies for certain means-tested public benefits, the financial resources of the alien’s sponsor must be counted as part of the alien’s financial resources in determining both eligibility for the benefits and the amount of benefits that may be awarded. Financial sponsors who pledge to financially support the sponsored alien in the event the alien applies for or receives public benefits will be expected to fulfill their commitment under law.

Among the means-tested public benefits programs at which this new directive is aimed are Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

While the law already requires agencies to enforce immigrants sponsors’ legal financial responsibilities, the White House memorandum notes that it is not being enforced and directs the federal agencies involved to review and update their enforcement procedures.

Enforcement of this directive could result in fewer people applying for and being found eligible to receive Medicaid. If this occurs, it could be especially harmful to Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals that serve large immigrant communities, potentially leaving them unpaid for care they provide to such patients.

Learn more from the administration’s “Memorandum on Enforcing the Legal Responsibilities of Sponsors of Aliens.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-06-06T06:00:12+00:00June 6th, 2019|Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Implementation of Reform Act’s Medicaid Doc Pay Raise Uncertain

With the Affordable Care Act-mandated increase in Medicaid payments to primary care physicians now just a little more than two months away from taking effect, much remains unknown about how the increase will be implemented.
Under the 2010 reform law, payments to Medicaid primary care physicians will be increased to the same level as comparable Medicare payments, with the federal government picking up the entire $11 billion tab.
At this point, however, there are no regulations delineating how the increase will be achieved, leaving unanswered a number of questions, including what the new rates will be; how and when they will be paid; which physicians will receive them; and how physicians caring for Medicaid patients through managed care plans will receive their enhanced payments.
The purpose of the temporary, two-year increase is to attract more physicians to the care of Medicaid patients in time for the increased Medicaid eligibility that begins under the reform law in 2014.
Many physicians serving communities with large numbers of Medicaid patients, and those employed by Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals, are expected to benefit from this pay increase. Currently, Medicaid primary care physician payments in Pennsylvania are just 56 percent of comparable Medicare payments.
Learn more about the challenges of implementing this primary care physician Medicaid pay raise in this Kaiser Health News article.

PA Safety Net Admin2012-10-29T06:00:15+00:00October 29th, 2012|Health care reform, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

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