Medicaid
A dozen Republican states have yet to expand eligibility, more than a decade after the option was created by the Obama administration. Voters approved Missouri’s expansion plan last year.
The governor wants Congress to expand Medicaid coverage to those eligible at no cost to the state government. The workaround could be passed through the Medicaid Saves Lives Act or as part of the annual federal budget.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified the state that it cannot proceed with plans to require people to work to keep their medical coverage, which would likely result in thousands losing health care.
CMS has told the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services a five-year extension of the Medicaid expansion waiver will not include work/community engagement requirements.
Despite a record surplus, agencies have been told not to expect the extra money in their budgets. Republican legislators want to cut taxes while Democrats support expanded Medicaid and investments in education.
The federal government sent a lot of money to states to help with an anticipated COVID-related economic downturn. Turns out, states did not need that much money – but they may spend it anyway.
The stimulus increases the federal matching rate and offers other incentives to encourage holdout states to expand Medicaid. Most of the holdouts will still take a pass.
State legislatures will have a lot on their plates. They’ll deal with issues in wildly differing ways. We set the context for the 2021 session with an overview of everything from abortion to redistricting.
A technical error in the Medicaid enrollment system may have mispaid 4.9 percent of customers across 27 counties. An audit suggests the numbers could extrapolate to a multi-million dollar glitch for the whole state.
Butler County Job and Family Services have expanded their online services to allow clients to access Medicaid, food and cash assistance remotely. Officials hope that the services are now more accessible.
