What the Medicare ‘Doc Fix’ Means for States

American Legislator ^ | 4-15-15 | Sean Riley

[ThethoughtsofGreg]

The U.S. Senate late Tuesday evening passed legislation containing a permanent ‘doc fix’ for calculating physician reimbursements under Medicare. By doing away with a decades old formula, the bill staves off an automatic 21 percent cut in payments that would have gone into effect at midnight. While much of the focus has been on Congress and the impact of the legislation on the federal Medicare program, the measure raises three important issues for the states.

First, the measure also includes a two year extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the federal-state program extending coverage to low-income children and pregnant women in families with incomes too high for Medicaid. The extension of CHIP comes at a critical time—while the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires states to maintain their CHIP eligibility levels through 2019, federal funding for the program would have otherwise ended this year.

[Star Traveler]

Here’s another thread about that, too ... :-) ...

Senate Approves a Bill on Changes to Medicare
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3279267/posts