Category: Medicaid/Medicare

Walker officially asks for Medicaid changes

by Tim Stumm | Jun 8, 2017 | Medicaid/Medicare, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

Gov. Scott Walker's Department of Health Services officially asked the federal government Wednesday to allow Wisconsin to become the first state to drug screen adult Medicaid enrollees without children. The waiver amendment also caps eligibility, imposes work requirements and charges premiums to members living below the poverty line.

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Report: Rural areas in Wisconsin depend more on Medicaid than urban areas

by Sean Kirkby | Jun 7, 2017 | Medicaid/Medicare, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

Image courtesy of Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. Wisconsinites living in rural areas and small towns depend more on Medicaid than those who live in big cities, according to a new report released Wednesday. The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and the University of North Carolina Rural Health Research Program found that […]

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Nygren, Darling support Walker’s efforts to drug test BadgerCare adults

by Sean Kirkby | Jun 6, 2017 | Medicaid/Medicare, State budget, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

The chairs of the Legislature's budget-writing committee support Gov. Scott Walker's plans to drug screen and test childless adults in BadgerCare.

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Advocates: Proposed Medicaid cuts would have ‘devastating impact’

by Sean Kirkby | Jun 2, 2017 | Medicaid/Medicare, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

Wisconsin advocates for mental health, those with lower incomes and those with disabilities are warning that proposed funding cuts and structural changes for Medicaid could reduce services.

Chiropractors, physical therapists laud JFC action to develop Medicaid pilot program

by Sean Kirkby | May 31, 2017 | Medicaid/Medicare, State budget, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

Organizations representing Wisconsin chiropractors and physical therapists back a budget provision approved by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee that would require the state’s health department to develop a pilot program promoting the use of chiropractic care as well as physical and occupational therapy to treat pain.

DHS delays Medicaid waiver

by Sean Kirkby | May 30, 2017 | Medicaid/Medicare, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

The Department of Health Services has delayed the submission of a waiver that would make the state the first in the country to drug test Medicaid enrollees. It would also impose work requirements, cap eligibility and charge premiums for members living in poverty.

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Analysis: Wisconsin Medicaid waiver has components never approved by feds

by Sean Kirkby | May 15, 2017 | DHS, Medicaid/Medicare, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

Wisconsin's plan to drug screen childless adults in Medicaid, require them to work and cap the amount of time they can receive benefits have never been approved by the federal government, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis released last week.

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Medicaid approves additional treatments for opioid addiction

by Sean Kirkby | May 12, 2017 | Medicaid/Medicare, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

Image: Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, testifies before the committee. The state added an additional opioid-addiction treatment to its preferred list for Medicaid patients Wednesday, after law enforcement and legislators raised concerns about a current preferred drug that they say is being smuggled into jails. The Medicaid Pharmacy Prior Authorization Advisory Committee classified the medication Zubsolv, […]

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Heifetz downplays GOP health bill’s impact on Medicaid

by Sean Kirkby | May 5, 2017 | Medicaid/Medicare, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

The Republican healthcare bill won't have a dramatic impact in the short term on the state's Medicaid program, Medicaid Director Mike Heifetz said Thursday at a panel hosted by WisPolitics.com just before the House narrowly voted to approve the proposal.

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Advocates, providers say proposed BadgerCare changes could undermine coverage gains

by Sean Kirkby | May 2, 2017 | DHS, Medicaid/Medicare, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

Advocates and providers told state health officials Monday that the changes they want to make to BadgerCare may undermine Gov. Scott Walker's goals of increasing access to health coverage.

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DHS releases more details on planned Medicaid premiums, drug testing and eligibility caps

by Sean Kirkby | Apr 18, 2017 | Medicaid/Medicare, Top Stories, WHN Stories | 0 |

Gov. Scott Walker's administration is set to reveal the draft of its plan to drug screen and charge premiums to childless adults in BadgerCare this week and submit it for federal approval by the end of May.

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