Pennsylvania Medical Assistance Archives - Page 5 of 7 - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

First Round of Data on PA Health Insurance Sign-Ups

123,681 Pennsylvanians signed up for health insurance through the federally facilitated marketplace between October 1 and February 1, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Among Pennsylvanians who enrolled in new health insurance plans, 79 percent were eligible for financial assistance with their premiums and 56 percent are female while 44 percent are male.
Among those who enrolled in insurance plans through the marketplace, 26 percent are between the ages of 18 and 34; 15 percent are between the ages of 35 and 44; 22 percent are between 45 and 54; and 36 percent are between 55 and 64.
In all, the marketplace evaluated 286,926 Pennsylvanians for eligibility for subsidized insurance, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). 29,365 were found eligible for Medicaid or CHIP.
Learn more about the first round of Pennsylvanians who signed up for health insurance, including the types of plans they selected and more, in this Department of Health and Human Services report.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-02-14T06:00:26+00:00February 14th, 2014|Affordable Care Act|Comments Off

PA to Submit Healthy Pennsylvania Application Soon

Pennsylvania will submit its “Healthy Pennsylvania” Medicaid expansion waiver application to the federal government in about two weeks, Governor Tom Corbett told a central Pennsylvania public radio station last week.
Once the state submits that application, according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News, “…the process should go quickly, he [Corbett] said, since the details have been worked out through ‘constant negotiations’ with federal officials at the Department of Health and Human Services.”
Read more about Governor Corbett’s radio appearance and his thoughts on Healthy Pennsylvania and Medicaid expansion in this Harrisburg Patriot-News report.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-02-10T06:00:26+00:00February 10th, 2014|Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Corbett Budget Proposes Mixed Bag for Safety-Net Hospitals

Yesterday Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett unveiled his proposed FY 2015 budget – a mixed bag for the state’s safety-net hospitals.
The budget proposes increased spending for Medicaid services, compensates for the loss of federal Medicaid funding expected when the state’s Medicaid matching rate declines later this year, and proposes new funding to help develop clinics and encourage medical professionals to work in rural and underserved parts of Pennsylvania.
On the other hand, the budget proposes slight reductions in selected supplemental payments that are important to safety-net hospitals, counts on significant savings derived through the Healthy Pennsylvania program that has not yet been approved by the federal government, and assumes that the state will prevail in its appeal of an arbitration ruling that would severely reduce the funding the state uses to make tobacco uncompensated care payments to qualified hospitals.
SNAP has prepared a detailed summary of the budget proposal that addresses the aspects of the budget that are most important to safety-net hospitals. Interested parties may request a copy by hitting the “contact us” link in the upper right-hand corner of this screen.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-02-05T10:53:42+00:00February 5th, 2014|Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

DPW Establishes Exceptions to Monthly Prescription Limit

Since January of last year, Pennsylvania’s Medical Assistance program has limited categorically needy adult recipients over the age of 21 to six prescriptions a month.
While Medical Assistance has established a process for seeking exceptions to this limit, the Department of Public Welfare has now published a new MA Bulletin that lists exceptions that will automatically be granted.
Find that list in this MA Bulletin.

PA Safety Net Admin2013-05-03T06:00:51+00:00May 3rd, 2013|Medical Assistance Bulletin, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

DPW Updates Fee Schedule

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) has updated its Medical Assistance fee-for-service fee schedule for a variety of physician services, podiatrist services, surgical services, and more.
See a complete list of changes here , in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

PA Safety Net Admin2013-04-23T06:00:49+00:00April 23rd, 2013|Pennsylvania Bulletin, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Medicaid Enrollment Down in PA

Enrollment in Pennsylvania’s Medical Assistance program declined by 55,000 people during the second half of 2012.
While it is not clear why enrollment dropped so significantly, one theory is that some people who lost their General Assistance cash assistance – a casualty of the state’s FY 2013 budget – did not reapply for Medical Assistance. Others point to the inability of county assistance offices to process applications effectively.
Read more about the drop in Medicaid enrollment in Pennsylvania and its possible causes in this Philadelphia Inquirer article .

PA Safety Net Admin2013-02-25T10:54:28+00:00February 25th, 2013|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Report Says PA Medicaid Expansion Would Create Jobs, Foster Economic Activity

Expanding Medicaid as called for in the Affordable Care Act would extend health insurance to nearly 700,000 currently uninsured Pennsylvanians and create more than 41,000 new jobs in the state in 2016 according to a new report.
Medicaid expansion also would result in $3.3 billion in new health care spending in Pennsylvania and generate $5.1 billion in new economic activity in 2016.
These are among the conclusions presented ind “Pennsylvania’s Economy Will Benefit From Expanding Medicaid,” a new report issued jointly by the Pennsylvania Health Access Network and the national advocacy group Families USA.
Learn more about the report and its analysis and find a link to the entire report here, on the web site of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network.

PA Safety Net Admin2013-02-22T10:25:57+00:00February 22nd, 2013|Health care reform, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

The Proposed FY 2014 Pennsylvania State Budget: Part 1 of 7

The Big Picture

Last Tuesday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett unveiled his proposed state FY 2014 budget. Later that day, members of the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP) received a comprehensive memo outlining the governor’s budget proposal with an emphasis on the issues that matter most to the state’s 61 private safety-net hospitals.
Over the next seven business days, SNAP will present the highlights of the governor’s budget, again with an emphasis on Medical Assistance and other matters of special interest to Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals.
The following is a schedule of the remaining six parts of this overview:

Today: the big picture underlying the proposed budget.
In this proposed budget, the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) projects a three percent increase in Medical Assistance enrollment and caseload in FY 2014. Overall, the DPW budget calls for $14.2 billion in total spending on Medical Assistance – a decrease of less than half a percent from the current fiscal year’s available funding.
While some of the proposed changes in the budget are spending decisions, others reflect a reduction in the state’s federal medical assistance percentage, or FMAP (the rate at which the federal government matches state Medicaid spending), which will fall from its current 54.28 percent to an estimated 53.52 percent during FY 2014. Consequently, in some cases, lower payments would reflect a reduced federal contribution rather than a state decision to reduce those payments.
The major themes of next year’s proposed Medical Assistance budget appear to be a continued state-wide expansion of the HealthChoices Medical Assistance managed care program and expanded access to community-based services for individuals with intellectual disabilities and the elderly.
The budget does not provide for the Medicaid expansion envisioned in the Affordable Care Act. Governor Corbett has conveyed to the federal government that he will not expand Medicaid eligibility at this time but his document states that such expansion will be the subject of further analysis and public discussion.
Tomorrow: The Major Medical Assistance Spending Categories

PA Safety Net Admin2013-02-12T06:00:58+00:00February 12th, 2013|Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania state budget issues, Proposed FY 2014 Pennsylvania state budget, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Health Law PA News

The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has published its January 2013 newsletter, which includes articles on the state’s budget process (including a schedule of upcoming budget hearings), the continued expansion of HealthChoices, changes in Medicaid-covered behavioral health and substance abuse services, limits on Medical Assistance benefits, the overall benefits of Medicaid expansion for Pennsylvania, and more.
Go here to download the Pennsylvania Health Law Project’s Health Law PA News.

PA Safety Net Admin2013-02-08T06:00:35+00:00February 8th, 2013|Meetings and notices, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania state budget issues|Comments Off

Pennsylvania Health Law Project Newsletter

The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has published its January 2013 newsletter.
Targeted to the very population that Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals serve, this month’s newsletter includes features on the benefits of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid eligibility, and the uninsured in Pennsylvania. It also includes links to articles and features relevant to the state’s low-income population and the health care providers who serve them.
See the Pennsylvania Health Law Project’s January 2013 newsletter here .

PA Safety Net Admin2013-01-31T06:00:57+00:00January 31st, 2013|Health care reform, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

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