Medicaid

Oklahoma’s Republican governor, who earlier this year released a proposal to expand Medicaid and then accept block-grant-style funding for the expansion group, has abandoned the plan to expand eligibility even as the state’s block grant waiver proposal moves forward.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Thursday (May 29) unveiled a proposal to support people with disabilities throughout the pandemic by enhancing and protecting existing federal programs, and he also called for legislation to eliminate the two-year waiting period for those eligible for federal disability benefits to enroll in Medicare and other reforms to Social Security.

The Trump administration unveiled a national strategic COVID-19 testing plan, as required by CARES Act, on Sunday (May 24), which Democrats were quick to criticize as putting too much responsibility on states to expand testing.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday (May 20) upheld a lower-court ruling that invalidated New Hampshire’s plan to add work requirements to its Medicaid program -- a development that was expected based on an earlier appellate ruling against work requirements in Arkansas.

The lobby representing community health plans says that Congress, in addition to increasing federal matching funds for Medicaid, should authorize a Medicaid “stabilization fund” that could be distributed to states based on need.

The Democrats’ new coronavirus relief legislation would allow New York to receive enhanced federal Medicaid funds even as it reduces its state Medicaid spending by billions of dollars -- an option not available to any other state.

The new COVID-19 relief package unveiled by House Democrats on Tuesday (May 12) would further boost federal matching funds for state Medicaid programs, temporarily increase payments to safety-net hospitals and bar CMS from finalizing tough new restrictions on Medicaid supplemental pay during the public health emergency.

House Ways & Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-MA) called on CMS to slow down allowing hospitals and health systems to reopen for non-emergency services until facilities meet certain requirements.

Two federal appellate judges on Friday (May 8) expressed reluctance to second-guess the Trump administration’s restrictive public charge rule, which penalizes legal immigrants who rely on Medicaid or other supplemental benefits.