Confluence of State, Federal Activity Prompts Medicaid Talk in Harrisburg
The combination of Congress attempting either to repeal and replace or repair the Affordable Care Act and Pennsylvania facing a multi-billion budget shortfall has led some policy-makers in Harrisburg to begin talking about ways to better manage or reduce the state’s Medicaid costs.
Those costs climbed from $3.9 billion in 2004 to $6 billion in 2014.
Among the possibilities state lawmakers are discussing: tighter rules for participation, greater efficiency, work and work search requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients, charging premiums for high-income families for which Medicaid provides coverage for their profoundly disabled children, and a pilot program to test whether a recipient care management program might eliminate medical errors, improve recipient health, and reduce health care costs.
Learn more about some of the Medicaid ideas Pennsylvania policy-makers are considering in this PennLive article.