The federal government has granted more flexibility to TennCare – Tennessee’s state Medicaid program – to help the state handle the COVID-19 outbreak.
Read MoreFeds Approve More Flexibility for Tennessee’s Medicaid Program
Tag: Medicaid
Peters and Stabenow Ask Trump to Reopen Health Insurance Enrollment Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
Michigan’s U.S. senators sent a letter to the Trump administration Friday requesting a special health insurance enrollment window in response the coronavirus outbreak.
Read MoreFederal Court Rules Michigan’s Medicaid Work Requirements Are Unlawful
A federal court ruled on Tuesday that Michigan’s work requirements for its Medicaid program are unlawful.
Read MoreWhitmer Files Motion to Remove Medicaid Work Requirements in Michigan
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer filed a motion on Tuesday for a partial summary judgement in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia after work requirements for Medicaid in Arkansas, similar to Michigan’s program, were found to be unlawful.
Read MoreU.S. Court of Appeals Panel Strikes Down Medicaid Work Requirement
A panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court’s decision Friday blocking the Trump administration’s work requirements for Medicaid recipients.
Read MoreFACT CHECK: Ohio GOP Chairwoman Timken Spreads Falsehoods on Refugees in Letter to Party Members
Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken wrote an error-riddled apologetics letter sent by email on Thursday to party members defending Gov. Mike DeWine’s refugee resettlement policy.
Read MoreService Provider to Drop Medicaid Coverage in Central and Southeast Ohio After Financial Losses
The service provider Paramount will be dropping its Medicaid coverage in central and southeast Ohio after facing financial losses. It will continue to provide Medicaid coverage in the west and the northeast.
Read MoreState Rep. Sabi Kumar Wants to Expand Medicaid and Make Forced Savings Payroll Deductions Mandatory
In a radio interview with LaVern Vivio on WDBL radio in Springfield on Tuesday, State Rep. Sabi ‘Doc’ Kumar, R-Springfield, said he wants to expand Medicaid and make forced savings payroll deductions mandatory.
Read MoreReport: Medicaid Spending Skyrockets, Consumes 30 Percent of State Budgets
In 2015, when Medicare and Medicaid turned 50, Investors Business Daily pointed out that one was going bankrupt (Medicare), the other was bankrupting states (Medicaid).
Read MoreAudit: Memphis Assisted Living Center Wasted Medicaid Money
Tennessee Comptrollers have called out yet another assisted living facility for spending Medicaid dollars in ways not legally allowed, this time to the tune of nearly $96,000.
Read MoreFeds Wasted Nearly $12 Billion on People Not Eligible for Medicaid, Report Says
According to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability office, the federal government wasted almost $12 billion taxpayer dollars on people who took Medicaid — but weren’t eligible.
Read MoreHouse TennCare Subcommittee Holds Summer Study on Controversial Medicaid Block Grant Proposal
The House TennCare Subcommittee took on the controversial topic of the block grant proposal, hearing from key stakeholders in a two-hour summer study conducted last Thursday.
Read MoreTennessee Facilities Billed Medicaid for Alcohol, Gift Cards, Comptrollers Report
Tennessee Comptrollers say staff members at two health care facilities in the state billed Medicaid for a lot more than legally allowed, and taxpayers lost money as a result.
Read MoreTennessee Leads the Way by Being the First State to Propose Receiving Federal Medicaid Funding Through a Block Grant
Tennessee became the first state in the nation Tuesday to propose that $7.9 billion in federal funding for the state’s Medicaid program, known as TennCare, would be provided through a block grant.
The release of the 34-page proposal, TennCare II Demonstration Amendment 42, begins a 30-day public comment period, which will end on October 18, 2019.
Read MoreStudy: More than Half a Million Enrolled in Medicaid in Nine States Are Ineligible
More than 500,000 people enrolled in Medicaid through expansion in nine states though their income made them ineligible for the program, a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found.
Read MoreTennessee’s Legal Counsel Asks Entire Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to Reconsider Dismissal of Challenge to Refugee Resettlement Program
The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) and Bursch Law PLLC filed a petition for rehearing by the entire Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals bench of a two-judge panel opinion dismissing Tennessee’s challenge to the constitutionality of the federal refugee resettlement program for lack of standing.
Read MoreAudit: Tennessee Taxpayers Lose Huge Sum After Nursing Home Inflates Expenses
Tennessee taxpayers lost more than $3 million after a corporate-run nursing facility billed the state that much money for expenses not covered under Medicaid. This, according to a new audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week. That corporation, AltaCare, is based out of Alpharetta, Georgia, according to Comptrollers. “The audit…
Read MoreAudit: Oak Ridge Facility Inappropriately Billed Medicaid Huge Sum of Money
Employees at an Oak Ridge health care facility billed Medicaid more than $25,000 for items that Medicaid wasn’t supposed to cover.
Read MoreCalifornia Lawmakers Move to Expand Medicaid for Illegal Immigrants
by Kaylee Greene The California Assembly voted 44-11 in favor of a bill last week that broadens state Medicaid coverage to include illegal immigrants to the tune of more than $3 billion annually. Under federal law, Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, provides health care to low-income citizens. Assembly Bill…
Read MoreU.S. Rep. Green Introduces Bill to Allow States to Pilot Programs in Which Medicaid Recipients Use Swipe Card to Make Medical Purchases
U.S. Rep. Dr. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) on Tuesday introduced a bill to give Medicaid recipients more choice and power in their healthcare decisions. The Medicaid Improvement and State Flexibility Act would authorize states to begin pilot programs giving Medicaid recipients a “swipe card” with dollars on it designated…
Read MoreTrump Administration Ends Unions ‘Skimming’ $100 Million a Year from Medicaid
by Bethany Blankley A final rule change has been implemented by the Trump administration to ensure that Medicaid providers receive complete payments as required by law. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the Medicaid Provider Reassignment Regulation…
Read MoreSocial Justice Warriors at The Tennessean Publish Op-Ed Claiming ‘Tennessee Is a Racist State and So Is Its Legislature’
A progressive social justice warrior-community organizer has labeled the entire State of Tennessee as racist with the aid of The Tennessean, which ran her ranting op-ed Wednesday. Aftyn Behn describes herself as the statewide organizer of Indivisible for Tennessee and Kentucky. Her op-ed blaming the state – especially the General…
Read MoreFederal Agency Approves Ohio Work Requirement for Medicaid
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Ohio’s work rules for “able-bodied” recipients of Medicare Friday. Obamacare included a requirement that all 50 states expand Medicare eligibility to cover every individual whose income was up to 133 percent of the poverty line by January 1, 2014. In 2012, in a…
Read MoreTennessee Gov. Bill Lee Wants More People to Fight Medicaid Fraud
Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee reportedly wants more people to fight Medicaid fraud. Specifically, according to LocalMemphis.com, Lee wants more Tennessee Bureau of Investigation staff members on the trail of Medicaid fraud. “The TBI director hopes lawmakers approve a request for 26-more staffers in the agency’s Medicaid fraud control unit,”…
Read MoreNine Years After Obamacare Passed, Agency Finds Numbers Were Wildly Off
by Jarrett Stepman Democrats defeated Republicans in the Obamacare repeal fight by warning that 22 million Americans would be thrown off their health insurance. They pointed to data leaked from the Congressional Budget Office. Well, it turns out that data was completely wrong. According to a report by the…
Read MoreTennessee Media Continues Drumbeat for Medicaid Expansion, Despite Dire Warnings from Elsewhere
Several of Tennessee’s mainstream media outlets seem to continue a drumbeat for Medicaid expansion in the state, even though some groups have long said it’s a bad idea. In the past several weeks Nashville Public Radio and The Daily Memphian, among others, have promoted the idea of expanding Medicaid in the…
Read MoreA Federal Appeals Court Just Took a Big Swing at Planned Parenthood
by Kevin Daley The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction forbidding Texas from stripping Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funds Thursday, while stridently criticizing the abortion provider for its rhetoric and medical practices. “Planned Parenthood’s reprehensible conduct, captured in undercover videos, proves that it is not a…
Read MoreMissouri Federal Grand Jury Indicts 14 in Home Health Care Scam
A fraud scheme perpetrated on taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid began to unravel with an anonymous tip alerting officials “that some Iraqis were fraudulently receiving home care services,” says a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report from earlier this month. Investigators examined billing records from several home health care companies that provide services to the…
Read MoreMinnesota DHS Provided Medicaid Benefits to Out-of-State and Incarcerated Individuals, Report Finds
A new report issued last week by the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor found that the Department of Human Services (DHS) provided Medical Assistance (MA), or Medicaid, benefits to ineligible residents. While the report concluded that the DHS “generally complied” with eligibility requirements, there were numerous instances in which…
Read MoreKavanaugh Joins Liberals to Protect Pro-Planned Parenthood Ruling
by Kevin Daley The Supreme Court declined to review three cases relating to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood at the state level Monday, over a vigorous dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas. The dissent was significant because it indicates that Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the high court’s liberal…
Read MoreAudit: TennCare Gave Out Money to Dead People and People in Prison
TennCare gave out more than $700,000 to duplicate members and also to people who were already dead or incarcerated, according to a new state audit. All of those recipients were ineligible to receive TennCare money. The findings, released late last week, cover July 2016 through December 2017. Generally, TennCare must…
Read MoreExpanding Medicaid in Tennessee Brings Danger, Despite Mainstream Media Cheerleading
Mainstream media outlets across Tennessee continue to beat the drum for expanding Medicaid, hoping to sway most Volunteer State residents to see things their way. But, as The Tennessee Star reported, expanding Medicaid brings peril. A recent Tennessean article tried to make the case for expanded Medicaid. Opinion pieces in…
Read MoreDr. Mark Green Commentary: Liability Reform a Major Area for Healthcare Savings
by State Senator Dr. Mark Green (R-Clarksville) In my third and final op-ed on the healthcare crisis facing America, I’ll discuss the last major problem causing the crisis as well as a solution to address it. You can read part one here, and part two here. Liability reform is…
Read MoreExpanding Medicaid Perilous for Tennessee, Think Tank Warns
In a new op-ed, the Beacon Center of Tennessee, a Nashville-based free-market think tank, warned all Tennessee officials to resist temptations to expand Medicaid. Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, for instance, is one of many politicians who want to make it happen. Beacon Executive Vice President…
Read MoreDr. Mark Green Commentary: ‘Cost Shifting’ Is a Major Contributor to the Healthcare Crisis Today
by State Senator Dr. Mark Green (R-Clarksville) The healthcare crisis in America is rightly one of the top issues on voters’ minds this election cycle. Unfortunately, missing from all the political rhetoric from most candidates is what is actually causing it. This is my second article in a three-part…
Read MoreImproper Medicaid Payments in Tennessee Part of Huge Nationwide Problem
A Knoxville nursing facility improperly billed Medicaid more than $20,000 for non-allowable expenses, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week. That’s minuscule, though, compared to the massive amount of money Medicaid loses nationwide on improper payments. “In 2015, improper payments alone—which include things like payment for non-covered services…
Read MoreLetter to the Editor: The Way to Lower Healthcare Costs Is to Support and Elect Candidates Who Will Apply Free Market Principles
Dear Tennessee Star, During the U.S. Senate debate I was glad to see Congressman Marsha Blackburn speak out against single payer healthcare. Being in the healthcare industry professionally since 1980 and now as a health consultant focused on health care legislation and helping companies and individuals navigate health care costs,…
Read MoreReport: Tennessee to Get Tough with Planned Parenthood
Tennessee officials may soon have the power to stop Medicaid dollars from going to clinics in Tennessee that perform abortions. This is meant to curb the power and influence of Planned Parenthood in Tennessee, according to a new article in Bloomberg. “The move signals growing GOP interest in using administrative…
Read MoreRepublican Dave Joyce Releases Bizarre Campaign Ad Distancing Himself from Trump
In a risky political move, Rep. Dave Joyce recently tried to distance himself from President Trump in a congressional district that the president won by 12 percentage points in the 2016 Election. Joyce, who is seeking reelection in Ohio’s 14th Congressional District, recently released an ad in which he touts…
Read MoreThis New Health Plan Expansion Is a Godsend for Small Businesses Like Mine
by Kalena Bruce Last month, the Trump administration took a concrete step to lower skyrocketing health care costs for middle-class families like mine. The Department of Labor issued a final rule expanding association health plans, which allow small businesses like my farm to band together with others to negotiate bulk rates…
Read MoreKentucky Governor Matt Bevin: Work Requirement for Medicaid Brings the Program Back to Its Purpose
Gov. Matt Bevin said Monday that Kentucky’s new work requirements repurposes Medicaid for those who are truly in need, just as the program originally intended. Mr. Bevin, Kentucky Republican, said Medicaid has expanded far beyond those who are unable to work and receive medical coverage through an employer, and now…
Read MoreKentucky Becomes First State to Require Work for Medicaid Benefits Days After Trump Administration Gives Green Light to New Policy
Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky, a Republican, announced in a news conference on Friday that Kentucky Medicaid recipients will have to either work or be in a jobs training program to continue receiving benefits. Bevin’s announcement comes just days after the Trump administration said it will allow states to impose work requirements for Medicaid recipients,…
Read MoreRepresentative Diane Black Praises Trump Administration’s Call to Reinstate Medicaid Work Requirements
The Trump Administration signaled Thursday that it would once again allow states to impose work requirements for some Medicaid recipients. Gubernatorial hopeful Representative Diane Black (R-TN-06) released a statement supporting the decision: As Chairman of the Budget Committee, I have pushed for work requirements for able-bodied, adult Medicaid recipients. I’m…
Read MoreDr. Bryan Merrick Makes His Case To Top Federal Officials for Reinstatement into Medicare System
Dr. Bryan Merrick and his attorney Roy Herron met in Baltimore on Thursday with top federal officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the part of the Department of Health and Human Services responsible for administering the Medicare program, to make the case for the reinstatement of…
Read MoreCommentary: One Nation, Under Medicaid, With Misery and Poverty for All
In a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 24 states had a majority of births financed by Medicaid. You read that right. A majority of children born in nearly half of our nation are born into poverty. This is progress, according to progressives and socialists, the champions of big…
Read MoreRep. Diane Black, House Budget Chair, Eyes More Changes to Medicaid
House Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black on Monday called the House GOP health care bill a “good start” but said she wants to overhaul Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor, even further in the Republican budget for the coming year. The GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare…
Read MoreCommentary: GOP Health Care Plan Would Fundamentally Change Medicaid
Obscured by the largely over pre-existing conditions, the Obamacare rewrite by the House of Representatives would usher in the most significant changes ever to one of America’s largest entitlement programs. The American Health Care Act faces almost-certain major changes in the Senate. But as passed by the House, it would…
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