As New York City Defends Medicaid Approvals, Fear of Suit’s Fallout Grows
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Medicaid fraud conjures up images of shady doctors, pharmacists and businessmen being led away in handcuffs by federal agents as photographers snap away and television cameras roll.
But this week, Medicaid fraud investigators struck out in a new direction as federal prosecutors brought a civil fraud lawsuit accusing the New York City government of using the bureaucracy to run its own Medicaid mill. And in the minds of several advocates for aged and disabled people, the lawsuit raised new questions about health policy, just as the government is expanding health care.
Plan Tackles Maine’s Hospital Debt
AUGUSTA, Maine — Health and medical services for 300,000 Maine residents would be preserved and the state would pay down a major portion of its debt to hospitals if a budget revision unveiled yesterday by Governor Paul LePage is approved by the Legislature.
“It’s a fiscally responsible budget’’ with no “gimmicks or tricks,’’ LePage said at a State House press conference.
ouse GOP To Resume Health-Care Repeal Effort, But With More Civil Tone
House Republican leaders said Thursday that they will begin their effort to repeal the new health-care law next week, a return to normal legislative business after the shootings in Arizona suspended activity on Capitol Hill.
But no one quite knows what normal will look like, following a wrenching week in which members confronted concerns about their own safety and whether their heated rhetoric played any role in last Saturday's shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 18 others.
How The G.O.P. Can Cut And Survive
THE new Congress is less than two weeks old, but pundits from across the political spectrum are already urging the newly empowered Republicans to take on Medicare and Social Security.
Conservatives argue it’s the only way to make good on the party’s limited-government rhetoric. Centrists say it’s the only plausible way to bring the budget into sustainable balance. Even some liberals are telling the Republicans to demonstrate the courage of their anti-spending convictions.
Reforming these programs is vital to our nation’s long-term fiscal health — which is why Republicans should resist this advice and leave the issue alone. Reform is impossible this year or next unless President Obama takes the lead on it. What’s more, Republicans have no mandate for reform, and a failed attempt will only set back the cause.
Racial Disparities Highlighted In C.D.C. Report
White people in the United States die of drug overdoses more often than other ethnic groups. Black people are hit proportionately harder by AIDS, strokes and heart disease. And American Indians are more likely to die in car crashes.
To shed more light on the ills of America’s poor — and occasionally its rich — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released its first report detailing racial disparitiesin a broad array of health problems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/health/14cdc.html?tntemail1=y&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print
Labor Is Out-Organized At Budget Protest| PolitiCal
If today’s budget protests are any indication, organized labor needs to get, well, organized.
After Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his budget, a handful of labor leaders gathered on the north steps of the Capitol to talk about the concerns of workers and recipients of In-Home Supportive Services and other programs that would see steep cuts. They didn’t get very far.
George Popyack, of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was explaining how shifting state services to local governments could compromise quality when he was drowned out by hundreds of students descending on the steps for a separate demonstration in support of single-payer healthcare. Reporters and a camera crew turned to observe the students, who were chanting through bullhorns and banging drums.
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