skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Early Signs Medicaid Expansion Works Where It’s Tried

play audio
Play

Monday, August 4, 2014   

RICHMOND, Va. – Signs suggest Medicaid expansion is working much as promised where it's been tried. The numbers are still coming in, but Medicaid expansion states – including West Virginia and Kentucky – report health care and budget results in line with expectations.

A separate report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers says expansion should produce a net 400,000 jobs nationwide by 2017.

Michael Cassidy, president, The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, says Virginia is projected to gain 13,000 of those jobs, mostly in the health-care industry.

"Doctors and nurses and office workers, who then turn around and spend that money at the dry cleaners, getting their car repaired," says Cassidy, "and that money flows through the economy."

States including Arkansas say their costs are close to what was expected. Other states have reported the portion of their population without coverage has fallen by more than half, and their hospitals report dramatic drops in patients who can't pay.

For example, when Arizona hospitals report a 30 percent decrease in uncompensated care, says Cassidy, that's good news for them, especially in rural parts of that state.

But it's also good for the state budget, he adds: "By having less uncompensated care that they'll be paying to hospitals. By having to provide less state funded programs for local, community and mental-health and substance-abuse services."

Critics have said expanding Medicaid would be financially unsustainable, that the federal government would have to cut back in the future, leaving the states holding the bag.

Cassidy says there are no signs that's happening. Instead, he says, there are indications that getting people into doctors' offices and out of emergency rooms is cutting costs overall. He summarizes the findings of a study at Virginia Commonwealth University.

"The drops in health-care expenditures are eye-popping," he says. "Over 40 percent reduction by year three in people who've been participating in that program."

The Congressional Budget Office reports the cost of expanding Medicaid has been under the initial projections, and says healthcare reform overall continues to reduce the deficit.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Many factors affect a customer's bill amount, including energy usage, weather, and the number of days in a billing period, according to Arizona Public Service. (Jason Yoder/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021