States Cry to Washington: Remove Obamacares Medicaid Handcuffs

America under ObamaCare, Day 295: reform adds strain to state budgets
More than half of U.S. states allowed more people to get on Medicaid in 2010 or made it easier for them to enroll, according to a new report, helping to prevent a steep increase in the number of Uninsured Americans during the economic Recession. The report from the Kaiser Family Foundation credits the 2009 Recovery Act and last year's Healthcare Reform law for providing more funding to states while preventing them from dropping people from the rolls. Partly as a result, 14 states made it easier ...

Feds Sue NYC, Say City Committed Medicaid Fraud
NEW YORK — The Federal Government sued the city of New York on Tuesday for Medicaid Fraud, accusing it of overcharging the program tens of millions of dollars for 24-hour services for patients who need help with shopping, grooming and other personal care. The government in a Lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan sought civil penalties and damages against the city, saying administrators over the last 10 years routinely reauthorized 24-hour continuous personal care services for appli...

Report: Arizona Was The Only State To Cut Childrens Health Insurance In 2010
Report: Arizona Was The Only State To Cut Children’s Health Insurance In 2010 Yesterday, the Kaiser Family Foundation released its 50-state survey of Medicaid programs around the country and found that despite tight Budgets, “nearly all states maintained or made targeted expansions or improvements in their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) eligibility and enrollment rules in 2010.” “This stability in large part reflects the temporary fiscal rel...

This Is The Stupidest Way To Analyze The State Debt Crisis (MUB)
Email Sent! You have successfully emailed the post. This morning on CNBC, Carl Quintanilla asked Meredith Whitney what we should make of the fact that the states in the most fiscal trouble are all blue and the states in the healthiest shape are all red. You know the story: Illinois, New York, and California are in horrible shape. Texas is in great shape. Except, well, that's one problem right there. Texas isn't in that great of shape. That trope just got blasted out of the water this week when ...

What the health reform repeal effort says about the 112th Congress
Members of the House of Representatives will vote next week on a bill to Repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, the health reform law that aims to cover the Uninsured through state Health Insurance exchanges, an individual coverage mandate, and an expansion of the Medicaid program, among other provisions. While the measure will probably pass the House, it is unlikely to be approved by the Democrat-controlled Senate, and even if it were to pass both chambers, the President has threatened t...

Republicans Denounce Republican Health Care Plan
Tim Noah on Republican outrage over high risk Health Insurance pools: Of all the arguments Republicans have been waging against ObamaCare as the House of Representatives prepares to vote for its Repeal, none is harder to take than their criticism of the federally subsidized high-risk pools the law created to provide immediate relief to the Uninsured. In May, the House Republican Conference complained that these high-risk pools would be unfair to people currently enrolled in existing state-run r...

Vote on Repeal of Pro-Abortion Obamacare Bill Comes Next Week
After postponing the vote scheduled for today on the Repeal of the ObamaCare bill that presents Abortion-funding and Rationing concerns, House Republicans have re-scheduled the vote for next week. Speaker John Boehner quickly postponed the vote hours after the tragic shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona, that resulted in the slaying of a half dozen people and injuring more than a dozen more. Giffords is still recovering from the gunshot wound to the head she received...

Waddington ends free insurance for supervisors
WADDINGTON — Former Waddington town supervisors receiving Health Insurance benefits now must contribute 50 percent of the cost, following a decision at Monday's board meeting. Town Board Member Stephen McKnight was the lone no vote on a resolution that will force former supervisors W. Reginald Greene and William L. Dalton to pay a portion of their Health Insurance costs. Town Supervisor Mark Scott and Councilors Shirley L. Robinson and David L. Putney voted in favor of the change. Co...

Feds Sue NYC, Saying City Committed Medicaid Fraud
NEW YORK (AP) - The Federal Government is suing the city of New York, saying it committed Medicaid Fraud by overcharging the government for 24-hour care services over the last decade. The government in a Lawsuit filed Tuesday in Federal Court in Manhattan seeks civil penalties and damages against the city. It says the city routinely reauthorized 24-hour continuous personal care services for applicants without obtaining the required local medical evaluation. The Lawsuit said city administra...

U.S. Says New York City Overbilled Medicaid
Source: The New York Times The Federal Government has accused New York City of overbilling Medicaid by “at least tens of millions of dollars” by improperly approving 24-hour home care for thousands of patients. In a Lawsuit filed Tuesday, the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan also insinuated that the city had cheated the Federal Government after a 2006 change in Medicaid rules relieved the city of having to contribute to the cost of the round-the-clock care. In many cases, the gov

America under ObamaCare, Day 294: repeal will save trillions
Even if some of the most conservative estimates of participation in ObamaCare prove to be correct in the next 15 years, the Legislation will still mean expenditures of about $102.8 billion every year once fully implemented, or about $1 Trillion over ten years. Why? Because, as supporters claim, the program will offer health coverage to about 32 million new people. 15.9 million new enrollees in Medicaid by 2019, as estimated by Kaiser Family Foundation, at an average federal cost of $4,950 per in...

Why do we have a debt ceiling?
Can someone please explain to me why we have a Debt ceiling at all? Its existence seems to violate every tenet of risk management and good governance. James Hamilton put it well back in 2006: One of the peculiar embarrassments of the American political process is the fact that Congress votes separately on the Deficit and debt, as if they were two different decisions… If the government is (a) required by the Deficit Legislation to spend, and (b) precluded by the Debt Legislation from borro...

S.C. mandating managed care for Medicaid patients
COLUMBIA -- Most Medicaid patients in South Carolina will be required to choose a managed care plan starting this spring, a state agency announced Tuesday. With few exceptions, the state Department of Health and Human Services is getting rid of the traditional fee-for-service model when it comes to Medicaid, the government Health Care program for the poor. Those who don't have to choose include disabled and Foster Care Children. The mandate, which received federal approval last month, expands on...

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Calls for Repeal of Obamacare
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 By Penny Starr Tom Donohue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, gave his State of American Business address Tuesday in Washington, D.C. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr) (CNSNews.com) - Tom Donohue, CEO and president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said on Tuesday that the Health Care bill signed into law last year by President Barack Obama should be repealed. “Last year, while strongly advocating Health Care reform, the Chamber was a leader in the fight against th...

US Chamber backs "Repeal the Job Killing Health Care Law Act"
Good thing that the U.S. Chamber ally Bill Daley will be in the White House to provide a liaison to the business community, to bring them along on President Obama's agenda for the nation and The Economy. Or not. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is backing Republican plans to try and Repeal President Obama's Health Care bill. "We see the upcoming House vote as an opportunity for everyone to take a fresh look at Health Care reform," chamber president Thomas J. Donohue said in his annual State of Amer...

The Corporate View, Part 3: What the new CEI criteria means for transgender-inclusion, etc.
( - promoted by Pam Spaulding) Part 1 | Part 2 Since 2002, the CEI has emerged as the consensus benchmark for LGBT-workplace equality in the U.S. – it’s because of that status that the changes occurring in the criteria this year will have a big impact going forward. When we started the last decade, 89 companies participated in the survey – and had to answer 10 basic questions. In the last cycle, the number of companies has grown to 477… and the survey now asks detaile...

ND advocates want broadened child insurance access
Supporters of broadening access to a Health Insurance program for North Dakota Children are making a push in the Legislature. The coverage is available for Children of low-income families who may not be eligible for other programs. A family of four that makes about $35,000 a year is now eligible for coverage. The proposed change would increase the income limit to about $55,000. The North Dakota Senate's Human Services Committee held a hearing on the bill Wednesday. Democratic Sen. Tim Mathern of...

Morning Buzz | City Accused of Overbilling Medicaid
The city was blanketed with up to nine inches of snow Tuesday night, but it appeared to have stopped by Wednesday morning. There is a slight chance for more as the day goes on. The temperature should reach a high of around 30, with partly cloudy skies. The Federal Government has accused New York City of overbilling Medicaid by “at least tens of millions of dollars” by improperly approving 24-hour home care for thousands of patients. In a Lawsuit filed Tuesday, the United States attorney’

Liberals see America as a series of problems waiting for government solutions [Reader Post]
In some respects liberals and Progressives have it easy. All they have to do is look around and they can find problems for government to solve. Kids are too fat? Let’s get the government to decide how restaurants market their offering. Somebody walked away with a bad haircut? Impose government testing and licensing for barbers. Crime getting out of control? Let’s ban all guns. Someone loses their job? Let’s give them three years of Unemployment checks. And just in case there we...

Even If Reefers Cause Madness, They Shouldnt be Illegal
David Frum’s post on marijuana and schizophrenia has inspired much debate and criticism, yet his statement that marijuana use is associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia is correct. It’s also true that continued marijuana use may help trigger future psychotic episodes among those suffering from this serious brain disease. Frum makes some valid points about marijuana and government policy; and I don’t endorse its use. At the same time it doesn’t necessar...

GOP lawmaker: Cut 200,000 federal.workers
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Congress should cut the U.S. government Workforce by 200,000 and freeze civilian federal salaries for three years, a Republican lawmaker proposed. The Cut Unsustainable and Top-heavy Spending, or CUTS, Act would cut spending $153 billion over five years, bringing the Federal Government in line with the Private Sector in seeking to do more with less, U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said. "There's not a business in America that's survived this Recession without rightsi...

OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Giffords shooting sparks mental health debate
Welcome to The Hill's evening roundup of the day's health policy news and advance look at tomorrow's schedule. Tuesday's health news Lawmaker calls for briefing on Mental Health danger signs: A leading lawmaker on Mental Health issues is calling for a Bipartisan debate on how to keep lawmakers and their staff and families safe in the wake of Saturday's deadly shooting in Tucson.  Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus, along with Rep. Tim Murphy (...

SustiNet debate returns to legislature, where cost is the issue
By delivering a more-than 200-page report to State Legislators last week, members of the SustiNet board opened the next chapter in the debate over a proposed state-run Health Insurance plan. It's a fight that will likely hinge on cost. Supporters say the proposed health plan, envisioned as a Public Option that would combine State Employees and Medicaid recipients into one Insurance pool that is opened up to the public, could help the state save more than $200 million a year. "I see this as a b...

Rep. Shuler: Repealing Obamacare Would be 'Immoral' and Take Away Health Insurance from Children
Monday, January 10, 2011 By Dan Joseph Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) (AP photo) (CNSNews.com) - Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) will not support Republican efforts to Repeal the Health Care bill that he voted against in 2010 and will not vote to defund many provisions in the bill that are already in effect. On Capitol Hill last week, CNSNews.com asked Shuler: “Rep. Steve King is advocating including language in every appropriations bill to prohibit money from that bill funding implementation of O...

Detroit News writer so far in the tank for ObamaCare, she's about to be crushed by hydrostatic pressure
I don't know a lot about Marisa Schultz, but based on her writing she is so far into the tank for ObamaCare that the hydrostatic pressure is about to crush her into the size of a pea. She took it upon herself to release the result of a biased, partisan report from a supposedly non-partisan organization that most never heard of to put out the canard that repealing the Unconstitutional ObamaCare law would hurt Michigan. This was apparently so important that she wrote it twice with 2 different hea...