Tagged: medicaid

Kentucky lawmakers will get their first chance tomorrow to ask a private Medicaid operator why it’s having so much trouble negotiating contracts with healthcare providers.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is set to sign several bills passed by the Legislature this year, including those that will slash health care coverage and increase cigarette taxes by $1 a pack to help finance the Medicaid program. 

Today on NPR: In 13 years of colorful, often demagogic rule, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has run his country like a game show host with daily TV appearances. Then cancer struck, forcing Chavez to scale back. Now, he has reappeared, but his countrymen are wondering just how sick Chavez is as he prepares to run for re-election in October.

Up in the Air:

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway recovered $7 million on behalf of Kentucky’s Medicaid program following a settlement with 47 companies in the Johnson & Johnson family. 

The top Republican in the Illinois House says he’s shelving legislation to rein in ballooning government pension costs.  

Today on NPR: Blacks, Gays And The Church: If public perceptions and pundits are to be believed, black churches are overwhelmingly against same-sex marriage. Except, it's not true.

Around the Commonwealth:

Kentucky’s new privatized Medicaid Managed Care program will be audited by the end of the year. State Auditor Adam Edelen created a Medicaid task force in February after taking a first look at the managed care system. He also gave recommendations to managed care companies, health care providers and the state on how to make the system run better in the future. But with clashes between private Medicaid companies and healthcare providers ongoiong, Edelen says he will take a stronger look into the system.