But the governor also said he would work with Congress to make improvements to the existing health care system, and Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade recommended several areas for improving the federal health law.
Medicaid
Posted inHealth
Home care agencies warn new system could cause major problems
Starting Jan. 1, the state will begin requiring home care workers to use a new electronic system for reporting the time they spend caring for certain clients – a change forecast to save the state millions of dollars. But home care providers worry problems could leave them unable to make payroll. And one major agency says it will refuse to use the new system.
Posted inHealth
Hospitals worry Medicaid, Obamacare changes could bring pain
With the potential for major changes in federal health care policy looming, hospital leaders are watching closely, worried especially that cuts to Medicaid could bring a big financial hit and that a repeal of Obamacare could raise the number of uninsured Connecticut residents.
Posted inHealth, Money
39 percent of parents affected by HUSKY cut still in program
Four months after a major change in Medicaid eligibility for poor parents, 39 percent of those initially expected to lose Medicaid coverage are still in the program and 16 percent have coverage through the state’s health insurance exchange. The health care coverage status of another 42 percent is unknown.
Posted inHealth
A lot at stake for Connecticut as Trump, GOP eye Medicaid changes
Medicaid is Connecticut’s largest source of federal funding and the largest single line item in the state budget. It covers close to one in five state residents – more than 750,000 poor children, adults and people with disabilities. A major change in federal Medicaid funding is a big worry for the state’s budget director.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Trump pick to run Medicare, Medicaid has red-state policy chops
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Seema Verma, a health care consultant, to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That’s the part of the Department of Health and Human Services that oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program and has a budget of just under a trillion dollars in 2016.
Posted inHealth, Politics
CT business community on watch over ACA repeal effort
WASHINGTON — GOP plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act would affect individuals who’ve been purchasing their coverage on state exchanges or through the expansion of Medicaid the most, but some who receive their health care from their employers are also likely to be affected.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Insurers uncertain as Congress looks to repeal Affordable Care Act
WASHINGTON– Caught off guard by the political changes that make possible the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the nation’s insurers are hoping Congress will replace the health care law with something that allows them to stay in business – and even thrive. “The discussion right now about repeal and replacement is making the (insurance) market very, very nervous,” Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, a Democrat, said.
Posted inHealth, Money
Same data, opposite conclusions: Did Medicaid cuts limit access to radiology?
When the state cut Medicaid payment rates for radiologists by 42.5 percent last year, doctors and patient advocates warned it would get harder for poor patients to get mammograms and other imaging services. A year and a half later, the state Medicaid agency says that hasn’t happened. But radiologists say it’s not that simple.
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Panel endorses strategies to curb health costs, redesign care system
The recommendations are aimed at curbing health care costs, but some members of the state’s Health Care Cabinet wondered if they will be too expensive. Another key recommendation faces opposition from one of the agencies that would be charged with implementing it.
Posted inHealth, Money
Hospitals ask feds to declare CT Medicaid rates, hospital tax illegal
Citing a host of job and program cuts and funding levels that threaten hospital viability and patients’ access to care, Connecticut hospitals have asked the federal government to declare that the state is violating federal law by paying inadequate rates for treating Medicaid patients and imposing a $556 million tax on the industry.
Posted inHealth
DSS’s long-awaited computer fix finally arrives, starting today
The mainframe computer system underpinning operations at the state Department of Social Services is so old, there are few people left who know how to fix it. It’s been blamed for stymieing the agency’s ability to handle programs that serve nearly 1 million people. As its replacement launches in part of the state today, officials say some growing pains are expected.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Congress lambastes company CEO over EpiPen price hike
WASINGTION — There was a bipartisan bashing of Mylan CEO Heather Bresch Wednesday over her company’s huge price increases on EpiPen, the auto-injector that delivers a drug that counters the effects of a potentially fatal allergic reaction.
Posted inHealth
After strong push, 41 percent losing Medicaid get new coverage
After a strong push from Connecticut’s health insurance exchange, about 5,600 low-income parents and caregivers transitioned to new health coverage through the state exchange before losing their state-sponsored Medicaid at the end of July.
Posted inHealth
With two weeks left, Medicaid transition reaches 26 percent
Over the last two weeks, Connecticut’s health insurance exchange has helped another 1,400 low-income individuals transition from their state-sponsored Medicaid plans as they prepare to lose them after July 31st.