Word: medicaid
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...deal Senator Ben Nelson got for his home state of Nebraska as part of the Senate health reform bill has caused such consternation among his colleagues. In exchange for his vote, say critics, Nelson was promised that the Federal Government would pay 100% of the cost of expanding the Medicaid program in Nebraska. The 49 other states, by contrast, would have full federal funding for a few years but would eventually have to pick up part of the tab. As soon as word of the special treatment broke, the deal became known as the "Cornhusker Kickback," and Nelson was roundly...
...idea, and, in a Jan. 15 letter to Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Nelson asked that special treatment for Nebraska be excluded from the final legislation. In the same letter, however, Nelson repeated something he has been saying since word of his special deal got around - that newly eligible Medicaid enrollees in all states should be fully and permanently paid for by the Federal Government. At first, this seemed like a crude and overly expensive solution, but as negotiations continue between House and Senate leaders over final legislative language, the idea of lessening the Medicaid burden for states is gaining...
...While there are many differences between the two bills, including abortion funding restrictions and Medicaid expansions, the issue now emerging as the major flash point is the Senate's proposed 40% excise tax on high-cost insurance policies: those individual policies costing upwards of $8,500 and family policies costing more than $23,000 that are being referred to in Washington these days as "Cadillac plans." At this point, about three-quarters of the House Democratic caucus has signed a letter sponsored by Connecticut Congressman Joe Courtney expressing opposition to the tax. (See the five differences that need...
...that's not the only issue causing friction among states. Another is the fact that some good deeds will be punished under the health reform measures: states that expanded Medicaid coverage on their own - say, to include low-income childless adults under 65 - will get less federal aid than those that have been stingier with their Medicaid programs...
...Because liberal and heavily Democratic states have traditionally been more generous in their Medicaid programs, they are likely to be the ones shortchanged. The biggest beneficiaries, arguably, could be states like Texas, whose lawmakers have waged the strongest rearguard campaign against reform. That may be reform's biggest political irony...