Minnesota officials knew they would exhaust Children’s Health Insurance Program money by the end of this year and likely be out of money for coverage of low-income children and pregnant women by the end of September. And Congress will probably not meet a deadline to help.
Focusing on how to finance expanded coverage is often compared to moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic: the whole health care enterprise is sinking under the weight of its high costs, and no amount of shifting who pays how much will keep us all from going under.
Once again, Congress is considering a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and make major cuts to Medicaid. Next week, the Senate may vote on this latest repeal effort, led by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
As Americans warm to the idea of a greater role for the government in health care, there's a difference between saying that everyone is entitled to health insurance and a plan to make that possible.
Even if the county ever gets a medical school, it is a long-term goal years away and many low-income patients need solutions now.
For years Merced County has struggled to convince doctors to come live and work in the rural, impoverished Central Valley community, resulting in a ratio of about 45 doctors for every 100,000 residents.
Horisons Unlimited Health Care filed for bankruptcy and closed all eight of its clinics, including five in Merced County. About 80 percent of Horisons patients were on Medi-Cal.
September 30 is the deadline for renewing coverage for about 9 million children nationwide, and there's been a flurry of media pieces pointing to this month's expiration date. But, is this federally-funded program really in jeopardy?
Suggestions of health insurance policies with skimpy benefits and higher out-of-pocket costs might reduce part of the health insurance cost equation, but is that the kind of insurance system Americans really want?
While the quest to repeal the Affordable Care Act is dead for now, many disabled Americans say the fight for their health care -- and the other fundamental rights it guarantees by extension -- is never really over.
