Supporters Of Medicaid Expansion Fight To Be Heard In Some Statehouses

Topics: Medicaid, Politics, Health Costs, Health Reform, States

Apr 01, 2013

Mississippi House Democrats blocked passage of the state’s Medicaid budget Sunday to force a vote on expanding the program, while supporters and critics do battle in Missouri, Montana and Arkansas.

Clarion Ledger: Mississippi House Democrats Block Medicaid Budget
House Democrats on Sunday night blocked passage of the $840 million Medicaid budget, a move to try to force a vote on expanding the program and to block Gov. Phil Bryant from running it by executive order. “The federal government is offering venture capital to expand the largest industry we’ve got in this state, and we can’t even get a vote and debate on it,” said Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville. “So we’re doing what we have to do. We are going to have an up-or-down vote on Medicaid expansion — it may be in a special session — or we are not going to have Medicaid” (Pender, 3/31).

The Associated Press: FACT CHECK: Corbett And The Medicaid Expansion
For now, (Pennsylvania) Gov. Tom Corbett has decided against embracing an expansion of Medicaid that could extend taxpayer-paid health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of low-income adult Pennsylvanians. The 2010 Affordable Care Act pledges to shoulder the lion’s share of the cost of the expansion, but Corbett says he is still concerned about the cost to Pennsylvania taxpayers and cautions that the federal government cannot always be trusted to deliver on its funding promises to states. Here is a look at the validity of some of his claims about the Medicaid expansion (Levy, 3/31).

The Associated Press/Kansas City Star: Medicaid Debate In Missouri Gets Hyperbolic
If Missouri expands Medicaid health coverage for lower-income adults, could it create a crisis for public schools? If Missouri fails to expand Medicaid, could it result in millions of Missourians‘ tax dollars going to health care in other states? In the tense Medicaid debate at the Missouri Capitol, both assertions have been put forth as plain facts by opponents or supporters of a plan that could add as many as 300,000 adults to the Medicaid rolls. But they might best be labeled as hyperbole (Lieb, 3/31).

Helena Independent Record: Democrats Vow To Pass Medicaid Expansion As Republicans Say It Will Blow State Budget
Last week, Republicans on two legislative committees used their majorities to kill Democrat-sponsored bills to expand the program starting in 2014. Gov. Steve Bullock and fellow Democrats vow to keep searching for a way to pass the expansion, although it could be difficult, as long as Republican majorities at the Legislature oppose it (Dennison, 3/31).

The Associated Press: Health Care, Tax Cuts Issues Colliding (AP Analysis)
How do you convince Republicans who took over the Arkansas Legislature by vowing to fight “Obamacare” to support government-subsidized health insurance? The same way you convince a Democratic governor who has said his budget can’t include more tax cuts to agree to a large package of reductions. As Arkansas lawmakers approach what could be the final weeks of this year’s session, it’s becoming clearer that proposals to expand health insurance to low-income workers and to cut $100 million in taxes are colliding (DeMillo, 3/31).

Baltimore Sun: Health Reform’s Changes Stir Worries As They Take Shape In Md.
State lawmakers put finishing touches last week on plans to apply federal health care reforms in Maryland come Jan. 1. But who becomes newly insured — and at what cost —still worries stakeholders as the state speeds toward becoming one of the first to adopt a revamped system. Under legislation passed by the House of Delegates and Senate, more low-income Marylanders would qualify for government-funded health care through Medicaid, and an existing tax on health insurers would sustain a new insurance marketplace once federal support wanes (Dance, 3/31).

This is part of Kaiser Health News‘ Daily Report – a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day’s news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Image via CrunchBase

Candidates, Committees Spend Money And Stand Ground In House And Senate Races

Mitt-Romney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Topics: States, Politics, Medicare

Sep 25, 2012

The Associated Press looks at competitive House races in New York, where Republicans are spending significant money to hold three seats held by freshmen. In the meantime, Todd Akin is standing his ground in his Senate race in Missouri.

The Associated Press/Wall Street Journal: NY A Busy Battleground Of Competitive House Races
New York state‘s congressional elections are testing the staying power of Republicans who rode a tea party wave to a House majority two years ago — as well as the resilience of Democrats striving to regain control. … The big money involved in the contests reveals the GOP‘s intent on preserving its foothold in the heavily Democratic state. The National Republican Congressional Committee said it had reserved $5.25 million for TV time in New York, more than half to defend three freshmen. The rest is going to three districts held by Democrats, including the Buffalo area seat won by Kathy Hochul in a special election upset last year. … Hochul made national headlines by pioneering the strategy of casting the race as a referendum on the GOP plan to transform Medicare, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, now the party’s vice presidential candidate (9/25).

NPR: Todd Akin Bets He Still Has A Chance
Republicans from presidential nominee Mitt Romney on down have called for Akin to stand down, believing that his infamous comments about “legitimate rape” have disqualified him as a candidate (Greenblatt, 9/24).

This is part of Kaiser Health News‘ Daily Report – a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day’s news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

The Maryland Republican Party (Photo credit: andrijbulba)

Few State Laws Restricting Abortion Make Exceptions For Rape Victims

Topics: Women’s Health, States, Politics, Delivery of Care

Aug 24, 2012

Politico Pro examines state abortion laws and finds few waivers for rape victims. Also, California lawmakers spar over rape comments made by Missouri Republican Rep. Todd Akin.

Politico Pro: In State Abortion Laws, Few Rape Exceptions
Todd Akin has put the entire Republican Party on the defensive over whether anti-abortion laws should have exceptions for rape — but the reality is that existing state abortion restrictions don’t give a lot of protections to rape survivors. More than half of the states in the nation — 26 in total — currently have laws in place that require women seeking an abortion to undergo counseling and complete a waiting period before having the procedure. But only one, Utah, completely waives the counseling procedure for women who have been raped. And Kansas, Pennsylvania and Virginia all waive just one portion of their required counseling for rape survivors — the part where they provide information about collecting child support (Smith, 8/23).

The Associated Press/Houston Chronicle: Calif. Lawmakers Exchange Barbs Over Abortion Bill
The national furor over a Missouri congressman’s comments about rape and abortion spilled into the California Legislature on Thursday, stoking a partisan — and personal — exchange. The clash arose during an Assembly debate on a bill to further study whether nurse practitioners can safely perform a common method of abortion. Democrats said they took offense over Missouri Rep. Todd Akin’s statement this week that women have enough control over their bodies to prevent pregnancy during a rape. Republican lawmakers in the state Assembly called abortion an inhumane way to end life (Lin, 8/23).

Abortion issues are also playing out in Senate and local races in Massachusetts and New Hampshire —

The Boston Globe: Abortion Opposition Group To Back Scott Brown
The state’s leading antiabortion group said Thursday that it plans to support Senator Scott Brown‘s reelection campaign, potentially undercutting the Republican’s effort this week to distance himself from his party’s support for strict antiabortion measures. “We consider him a senator who votes prolife,” said Anne Fox, president of the Massachusetts Citizens for Life. “We have to take his word for it when he says he is prochoice. But what we’re looking for is someone who votes prolife, and he does.” Brown said he would not reject the backing of Massachusetts Citizens for Life but reiterated that he considers himself a supporter of abortion rights (Levenson, 8/24).

Reuters: New Hampshire Candidate Backs Down On Abortion Threats
A Republican candidate in New Hampshire backed down on Thursday from a suggestion he would use “deadly force” to stop doctors from performing abortions, saying he “let his imagination get out of control.” Frank Szabo, who is running for sheriff in Hillsborough County, caused an uproar with his threats to crack down on legal abortion with arrests, prosecution and further actions aimed at doctors (Krasny, 8/23).

This is part of Kaiser Health News‘ Daily Report – a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day’s news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Official portrait of United States Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ryan’s Positions On Women’s Issues Become Campaign Target

Topics: Women’s Health, Politics, States, Health Disparities

Aug 20, 2012

Politico reports on how Rep. Paul Ryan‘s record on reproductive issues — including co-sponosring a “personhood amendment” that would declare a fertilized egg to be a person, and voting to defund Planned Parenthood — could widen President Barack Obama’s lead among women. Meanwhile, a controversial comment about rape by a GOP candidate running for Senate in Missouri has stirred anger and angst.

Politico: Paul Ryan Targeted On Women’s Issues
Paul Ryan co-sponsored a federal “personhood” amendment. He voted to defund Planned Parenthood. He opposes all abortions, except when the life of the mother is at risk. And he supports a federal bill requiring women to get an ultrasound before an abortion. If this sounds like an ominous ad from the Obama for president campaign, something like it could soon be coming to a TV near you. These are among the positions the Wisconsin congressman has taken in his career that Democrats are bound to highlight in the weeks ahead in ads, press conferences and rallies as they try to widen President Barack Obama’s lead among women over Mitt Romney in polls (Haberman, Schultheis and Romano, 8/19).

Also in the news –

Los Angeles Times: Candidate Says ‘Legitimate Rape’ Rarely Causes Pregnancy
The Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Missouri on Sunday advanced the theory that the female reproductive system can shut down during what he described as a “legitimate rape,” thus preventing conception in most cases. Rep. Todd Akin, a tea party candidate who is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri’s closely watched race, was asked in a local television interview about whether he supported access to abortion in the case of rape (Abcarian, 8/20).

Politico: Todd Akin’s Rape Remark Has GOP Fretting
Rep. Todd Akin’s damning statement that victims of “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant is just the latest in a string of unforced errors by the GOP Senate candidate that has Republicans fretting about his chances of beating Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. And a loss in Missouri would almost certainly quash the party’s hopes of reclaiming the Senate majority (Catanese, 8/19).

National Journal: Akin Remarks Latest Example Of GOP Drawing A Line On Rape
[Todd Akin’s] comments immediately drew condemnation from his rival, incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and even earned Akin a trending hashtag on Twitter. But soon after taking the House in 2011, Republicans were forced to respond to a similar media frenzy over abortion and pregnancies resulting from rape. The House was getting ready to consider a bill from Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., that originally narrowed the definition of rape to only include “forcible rape,” excluding women in statutory rape cases, among others. That is important, because the federal government traditionally covers abortion procedures for women in government programs like Medicaid only in the case of rape, incest, or if the mother could die as a result of the pregnancy (McCarthy, 8/19).

Kansas City Star: Senate Candidate Todd Akin’s Remark On Rape Stirs Anger
“It just demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of that situation that women are put in,” said Jean Peters Baker, the Democratic Jackson County prosecutor and board member of the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault. “It just disappoints me that somebody who wants to represent my constituency and my community would have so little understanding of what these women go through.” Asked whether there’s a factual basis to Akin’s statements about pregnancy after rape, Peters Baker said, “No, no, no. We have no magical powers” (Kraske, 8/20).

CNN: Romney And Ryan Disagree With Akin Rape Remark, Says Campaign
A spokeswoman for Mitt Romney wrote late Sunday that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and his running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, did not share Rep. Todd Akin’s sentiments on rape. “Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape,” Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg wrote. Earlier Sunday, Akin said he “misspoke” when he claimed “legitimate rape” rarely resulted in pregnancy (8/19).

This is part of Kaiser Health News‘ Daily Report – a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day’s news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Missouri Ballot Referendum Makes Health Law A Hot Issue

Topics: States, Politics, Insurance

By Guy Gugliotta

Aug 05, 2012

This story was produced in collaboration with

The continuing war over President Barack Obama’s health care law is particularly fierce this election season in Missouri, where politicians of both parties are playing a game of can-you-top this with a ballot referendum whose chief result promises to be voter confusion.

In May, Missouri’s General Assembly (both houses are controlled by Republicans) passed a ballot measure for the November elections that would prohibit establishment of state health insurance exchanges, a cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act, without approval by the legislature or the voters. The reform law directs states by 2014 to set up the exchanges on the Internet, where consumers can comparison-shop for the health plan that best suits them.

Photo by Frank Peters via Flickr

GOP State Sen. Robert Schaaf, the bill’s author, said he wanted to block Jay Nixon, the Democratic governor who is running for re-election, from establishing an exchange by executive order. Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said the governor has no intention of issuing such an order.

What the ballot initiative all but ignores, however, is that if the state does not implement its own health care exchange by 2014, the health law requires the federal government to impose its own version.

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat who is not running for re-election and who is responsible for explaining difficult issues for the voters, clearly spotted this hole in the initiative language and in early July decided to make her own political statement. Her summary, to appear on the ballot on Election Day, did not use a light touch.

Shall Missouri law be amended to deny individuals, families, and small businesses the ability to access affordable health care plans through a state-based health benefit exchange unless authorized by statute, initiative or referendum or through an exchange operated by the federal government as required by the federal health care act?”

Republicans were outraged, none more so than Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who stepped in “within minutes of publication,” he said in an interview. This “biased, loaded language “is not fair, it’s not accurate, it’s not impartial—we have to get this into court.” So he filed suit to have Carnahan’s summary thrown out.

Since then, Kinder, locked in a tough re-election race against several opponents in Missouri’s Tuesday primary, has used the initiative and his opposition to the health law as a centerpiece of his campaign: “The whole entire law was founded in lies, passed with lies and is based in lies now, and the American people are not going to stand for it,” Kinder said. “Certainly the people of Missouri are not going to stand for it.”

Carnahan’s office said that as the defendant in the case Carnahan would not publicly comment on Kinder’s accusations, but she was clearly unmoved: “Obviously, some candidates see this as good political theater during an election year,” Carnahan spokesman Ryan Hobart said in a statement, “but we maintain that this is a fair and sufficient summary of the ballot measure.”

Theater or not, the Missouri referendum has served as a reminder of the important role health care will play in this year’s elections. It also demonstrates how health care hyperbole can drown out reasonable discourse. The initiative’s language implies that approval means Missouri will have no insurance exchange unless the legislature or the voters sign off on it (not true); Carnahan’s ballot language implies that approval will deny consumers access to insurance (also not true).

Nationally, opinion on the health care law itself remains volatile and deeply divided. While no recent polls have tested the Affordable Care Act’s popularity in Missouri, another largely symbolic ballot initiative exempting Missourians from mandated health insurance won 71 per cent of the vote in 2010. A July 28 poll this year showed Obama trailing presumptive Republican challenger Mitt Romney by nine points.

“President Obama and the health care law in general are not popular in Missouri,” said George Connor, head of the political science department at Missouri State University, in Springfield. “Any opposition to President Obama on health care by anybody gets you bonus points with the voter.”

And Democrats, Connor added, are trying to stay clear of Obama. The popular and politically savvy Nixon has been successful at it, and is a clear favorite for re-election. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, however, a supporter of the health care law who is closely identified with the president, is trailing against any of three possible GOP opponents competing in the primary.