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Colorado Health Insurance Insider

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You are here: Home / Archives for medicaid

medicaid

Transferring Costs From Medicaid To Emergency Departments

September 21, 2011 By Louise Norris

[…] Denying arbitrary “non-emergent” ED claims for Medicaid patients doesn’t seem like a way to actually reduce ED overutilization. Instead, it seems like a way to cut Medicaid costs by increasing the number of unpaid claims that EDs have to write off each year. In order to cover their costs, hospitals will have to further increase prices for privately insured patients. That in turn causes health insurance premium hikes, which leads to calls for negotiations to artificially lower premiums. Where does it end?

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies, Health Insurance Reform, Providers

Thoughts On Direct-Pay PCPs

August 23, 2011 By Louise Norris

[…] Those are a few of the thoughts that come to mind when I think about direct-pay medical care. I can see pros and cons to the idea, and I’m sure that there are many PCPs who would love the chance to focus more on medicine and less on administration/payer issues. But I think that most PCPs also want to make sure that everyone – regardless of financial status – has realistic access to medical care. And I’m just not sure that would be the case if more PCPs started pulling out of the health insurance networks – especially the networks that serve low income populations.

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies, HSA, Providers

Differing Views On Paul Ryan’s Health Care Reform Proposal

April 18, 2011 By Louise Norris

Last week’s Health Wonk Review included several articles about Rep. Paul Ryan’s “Roadmap for America’s Future”, which includes significant changes in Medicare and Medicaid, and a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. This article from Avik Roy is particularly interesting, and raises some valid points in support of some aspects of the proposed budget reforms. But there are definitely problems with some of the radical changes being proposed. […]

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance Reform

Controversy Surrounding The Expansion Of Medicaid

April 14, 2011 By Louise Norris

[…] It’s true that we can’t just keep expanding Medicaid without figuring out ways to fund the expansion, but we also can’t ignore the needs of the uninsured population, many of whom are uninsured because of the cost of health insurance (even if they might not technically qualify for Medicaid under the current rules). Regardless of the future of the federal Medicaid mandates, hopefully the focus of the state leadership will be on finding additional ways to generate funds and increase efficiency in order to be able to provide real access to health care for as many Colorado residents as possible.

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies

Medicaid Outcomes – Separating Causation From Correlation

March 18, 2011 By Louise Norris

[…] But the shortage of doctors who will accept new Medicaid patients could definitely be seen as a significant obstacle to receiving care for people who rely on Medicaid to cover their healthcare costs. It’s likely that there is a long list of reasons why people on Medicaid have poorer health outcomes (and we have to be careful to not mistake correlation with causation). But it’s reasonable to assume that the difficulty Medicaid patients experience in finding a doctor isn’t doing anything to improve their health outcomes.

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies, Insurance Companies, Medicare, Providers

Colorado Bill Would Allow State To Opt Out Of Federal Healthcare Laws

March 4, 2011 By Louise Norris

The Healthcare Opportunity and Patient Empowerment (HOPE) Act (HB 1273) was introduced in the Colorado House of Representatives this week, with primary House sponsorship from Reps Nikkel and Stephens (the House majority leader), and primary Senate sponsorship from Senator Kopp. The idea behind HB1273 is to allow Colorado to legally opt out of the PPACA – not just the individual mandate portion, but the entire law. […]

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies, Health Care Reform

Colorado Receives $13.7 Million Award For Medicaid Program

December 30, 2010 By Louise Norris

Colorado was one of 15 states to receive a grant from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services this week, thanks to changes that the state made in the enrollment process for Medicaid in order to expand the program. Colorado got $13.7 million, which will be used to help finance the state’s Medicaid system. […]

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies, Health Insurance Reform

Colorado Delaying Medicaid Payments

June 28, 2010 By Louise Norris

[…] And that means that Medicaid claims submitted over the last couple weeks won’t be paid until July 9th – providers will miss out on payments that were scheduled for last week and later this week. The 2011 fiscal year begins in July, and the state is planning to push Medicaid reimbursements out in order to contain the budget for this year. The money will eventually be paid to the providers, but for book-keeping purposes it will be in a different fiscal year, and it also amounts to an interest-free short term loan from the providers to the state. […]

Filed Under: Denver, Health Care Goodies, Health Insurance Reform

Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission Report Finalized

February 8, 2008 By Louise Norris

The Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform made its final report to the Colorado General Assembly last week. The 176 page document was endorsed by 24 of the 27 diverse commissioners, and includes provisions that the Commission says will reduce the number of Coloradans without health insurance (currently 792,000 people) by 88%. The… Read more about Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission Report Finalized

Filed Under: Health Insurance Reform

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