Nevada has become the first state helmed by a Republican governor to announce an opt-in to the Medicaid expansion up to 138% of the poverty level (it’s really 133%, but there’s a 5% “disregard” that brings it up to 138% in practical terms). Based on numbers from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute, [...]

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that states will not be eligible for funding for the Medicaid expansion unless they expand it all the way to 133% of poverty as envisioned by the law.

A couple posts by Sarah Kliff over at the Wonkblog franchise underline the monumental task of putting together a clumsy, interlocking, state/federal, public/private, amorphous glob of a tweak to the nation’s health care system. In fact, we’re in the midst of the Obamacare cliff, a drop-dead point where states must decide whether they want to [...]

One signature consequence, perhaps the leading consequence, of last night’s electoral victory for Democrats is that the implementation of Obamacare will now proceed unfettered. At least at the federal level. But as we’ve noted for many months, the law’s facility will rise or fall on the willingness of the states to carry it out. After [...]

Medicaid spending slowed down in 2012 and similar slowing is expected for 2013. However, it’s being accomplished through precisely the same program that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan endorse for the program – by effectively taking beneficiaries off the rolls. The data comes from the respected Kaiser Family Foundation, and their annual survey of all [...]

Poor people don’t vote. At least, they don’t vote in proportion with their share of the population. And they certainly don’t “vote” in the sense that politicians would notice, by attending thousand-dollar-a-plate dinners and contributing to their campaigns.

Throughout the election campaign, when the two competitors talk about social insurance programs, they usually confine it to Social Security and Medicare, and really just Medicare. And it’s true that the Romney-Ryan plan for a voucher program instead of traditional Medicare would lead to higher premiums for most seniors. But the planned growth rates for [...]

The importance of what was not discussed in last night’s debate cannot be overstated. But the post-debate analysis will be tempered by whether the Romney campaign can hold on through the newfound tradition of fact-checking that will follow in the next couple days. Already one issue has been brought up. There was a lengthy but [...]

A new report offers a puncture to the myth that American health spending springs from overtreatment. This theory goes that doctors prescribe too much medical care for various ailments, with the most expensive instrument in the doctor’s office being a pen. As a result, the cost of care rises to unsustainable levels. If we change [...]

Last year, I went to the Los Angeles Sports Arena to witness a massive free medical clinic for thousands of low-income residents. I was impressed by the focus on enrolling patients for continuing care, either through coverage programs within the city or community health centers. The health clinic has returned to LA this week, and [...]

The Wall Street Journal reports today on the biggest non-Washington policy fight of the next few years, the bid to get states to accept the expansion of Medicaid. The Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare gave states an opt-out for the Medicaid expansion, designed to provide 1/2 of the total coverage expansion in the law. So [...]