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On Jan. 1, California started buying prescription drugs for its nearly 14 million Medicaid enrollees, a responsibility that had primarily been held by managed-care insurance plans. State officials estimate California will save hundreds of millions of dollars by flexing its purchasing power, but some health clinics expect to lose money.
Despite state Republican leaders鈥 rigid opposition to expanding the health program designed for low-income residents, advocates successfully gathered enough signatures to get the measure on the fall ballot.
Add nursing homes to the list of industries jolted by Amazon鈥檚 handsome hourly wages. Enticed by an average starting pay rate of $18 an hour and the potential for benefits and signing bonuses, low-wage workers are fleeing entry-level elder care for jobs packing boxes.
California wants to hold nursing homes accountable for the quality of care they provide by tying Medicaid funding more directly to performance. But the nursing home industry, an influential player in the Capitol, is gearing up for a fight.
In January, California鈥檚 Medicaid program will begin offering nontraditional services 鈥攕uch as ridding homes of roaches, replacing mattresses and installing air purifiers 鈥 to some low-income asthma patients. But the rollout could be chaotic, with insurance companies struggling to identify groups that can deliver the services.
A record number of hospitals closed in rural America last year. For the residents of Cuthbert, Georgia, the loss has meant many problems, including delayed care for emergencies that can turn deadly.
In West Virginia, older residents often go without dental care, and a quarter of people 65 and older have no natural teeth, the highest rate of any state in the country. But a powerful senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, has rebuffed efforts to add a dental benefit to Medicare.
Montana nonprofit hospitals receive millions of dollars in tax exemptions as charities each year in exchange for giving back to their communities. A KHN review found that some of Montana鈥檚 richest medical centers are falling behind most state and national hospitals.
Voters in Missouri and Oklahoma approved Medicaid expansion to begin in 2021. But while Oklahoma has enrolled over 200,000 people so far, Missouri has enrolled fewer than 20,000. Why are two such similar states handling the public insurance rollout so differently?
Federal health officials appear poised to extend a recommendation for covid boosters to all adults, following moves by some governors and mayors to broaden the eligible booster pool as caseloads rise. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration finally has a nominee to head the agency: former FDA chief Robert Califf. And Medicare premiums for consumers will likely rise substantially in 2022, partly due to the approval of a controversial drug to treat Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Tami Luhby of CNN, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Dan Weissmann, host of the 鈥淎n Arm and a Leg鈥 podcast.
While other states dramatically restrict abortion and the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court weighs Roe v. Wade, California is preparing to absorb the country鈥檚 abortion patients.
An estimated 275,000 Missouri adults can get dental insurance now as the state has expanded who is eligible for Medicaid. But with so few dentists participating in the program, the state鈥檚 already-backlogged dental clinics are facing a glut of new clients.
Medicare officials say complaints are rising from seniors lured into private plans with misleading information or enrolled without their consent. In response, officials have threatened to penalize the private companies selling Medicare Advantage and drug plans if they or agents working on their behalf mislead consumers.
The latest iteration of President Joe Biden's social-spending package would close the health insurance gap for at least 2.2 million people, making a huge difference especially in the South, where political opposition has blocked Medicaid expansion.
Following the devastating impact of covid-19 on nursing homes, state lawmakers want to be sure that government and private payments primarily go to improve care and staffing.
Negotiations on the health parts of President Joe Biden鈥檚 domestic agenda are getting serious but have yet to produce a deal every Democrat can support. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration remains without a nominated leader but manages to take the first steps toward approving over-the-counter hearing aids. Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins, Tami Luhby of CNN and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read too.
KHN teamed up with Hulu for a discussion of America's opioid crisis, following the Oct. 13 premiere of the online streaming service鈥檚 new series 鈥淒opesick.鈥
In a practice dating to the 1980s, many hospitals require people with alcohol-related liver disease to complete a period of sobriety before they can be added to the waiting list for a liver. But this thinking may be changing.
Federally qualified health centers from California to Michigan are mired in a bureaucratic mess over how they should be paid under Medicaid for each dose of covid vaccine given. In California alone, clinics await reimbursement for at least 1 million shots, causing a 鈥渕assive cash flow problem.鈥
The Biden administration is requiring workers at health care facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid payments to be vaccinated. For the minority of nursing students who have refused a shot, the new policy could mean they can鈥檛 get the training they need in a hospital or other health care venue.
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