N.H. to Debate Medicaid in 2016 Session
Concord — The debate over whether New Hampshire should keep more than 45,000 residents on subsidized health insurance is set to dominate the Statehouse when lawmakers return to Concord in January. New Hampshire’s Medicaid expansion plan will expire at the end of 2016, when federal funding drops below 100 percent, if lawmakers don’t vote to reauthorize it. Officials estimate the state will be on the hook for at least $12 million in...
Vt. Medicaid Patients Have Few Dentists
Going to the dentist can be expensive. And under the Affordable Care Act, Vermonters have increased access to insurance for dental services, including Medicaid. But many dentists do not accept new Medicaid patients. That’s because many private practitioners say reimbursement rates are too low. When Jim Gold practiced dentistry in Thetford, he did not accept Medicaid. But now in retirement, he volunteers at the Good Neighbor Health...
D-H Threatens Suit Over Vt. Medicaid Payments
Lebanon — Dartmouth-Hitchcock has threatened to sue the state of Vermont for using what it regards as a discriminatory payment schedule and denying the large medical care network millions of dollars in compensation for care for low-income people covered by a state-federal health insurance program. The rate at which Vermont reimburses D-H for such care is “not only unfair but it also threatens the sustainability of D-H as a provider to...
Tough Choices as Elder Care Cost Soars
New York — Doris Ranzman had followed the expert advice, planning ahead in case she wound up unable to care for herself one day. But when a nursing-home bill tops $14,000 a month, the best-laid plans get tossed aside. Even with insurance and her Social Security check, Ranzman still had to come up with around $4,000 every month to cover her care in the Amsterdam Nursing Home in Manhattan. “An awful situation,” said her daughter, Sharon...
