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To receive Medicaid health coverage, some adults will soon have to show they are working, volunteering or taking classes. But to gather that proof, many states first will have to spend millions of dollars improving their computer systems. Across the nation, states face an immense task and high costs to prepare for the Jan. 1 kickoff of new Medicaid eligibility mandates affecting millions of lower-income adults in the government-funded health care program. (Lieb, 3/1)

More about Medicaid —

For the fourth time, federal auditors have turned up improper or potentially improper Medicaid payments in every sample of autism therapy records they audited. This report, focused on Colorado, yielded the highest improper payment amount yet. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General uncovered $285.2 million in improper and potentially improper payments in 2022 and 2023 to clinicians who provide a popular form of autism therapy called applied behavior analysis, or ABA. The payments, administered under Colorado’s Medicaid program, come from the state and federal governments. (Bannow, 3/2)

Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff laid out plans for a $202 million federal award aimed at rural health, following drastic Trump/Republican Medicaid cuts that will hit Ohio to the tune of $33 billion over 10 years. During overall budget testimony in the Ohio House Health Committee, Vanderhoff spelled out different priorities for the money awarded to the state through the Rural Health Transformation Program, which the Trump administration has presented as an attempt to offset cuts in other areas, such as Medicaid funding cut. (Tebben, 3/1)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Families Defend Disability Services Amid Medicaid Cuts
Families of Idahoans with disabilities say their lives could be upended as lawmakers in the state’s Republican-dominated legislature mull sweeping cuts. Services at risk include the 24/7 care that allows a 39-year-old with cerebral palsy to live independently; the in-home caregiving that lets a 26-year-old with brain damage from a hemorrhage at birth stay in his family home; and private duty nursing for a 19-year-old with cerebral palsy who has qualified for hospice care for complications including pulmonary decline from a spinal cord injury. (Sable-Smith, 3/2)

Stephanie Walters doesn’t know what she will do if Idaho stops funding home care for her daughter. Until recently, this option would have been unthinkable. But because of steep cuts to Medicaid from Donald Trump’s signature policy measure, state officials are considering the unthinkable. Last month, Republican Gov. Brad Little released a budget plan that would potentially dissolve the state’s home care services. The possibility has people with disabilities and their families scrambling. A number of programs are on the chopping block, including dental services, occupational and physical therapy for children and adults, and home care for people with disabilities. That’s exactly the type of service Walters, 56, and her daughter rely on. (Luterman, 3/2)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Medicaid Is Paying For More Dental Care. GOP Cuts Threaten To Reverse The Trend
Star Quinn moved to Kingsport, Tennessee, in 2023, the same year the state began covering dental costs for about 600,000 low-income adults enrolled in Medicaid. But when Quinn chipped a tooth and it became infected, she could not find a dentist near her home who would accept her government health coverage and was taking new patients. She went to an emergency room, receiving painkillers and antibiotics, but she remained in agonizing pain weeks later and paid a dentist $200 to extract the tooth. (Galewitz, 3/2)

Centene is asking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to empower insurers to take matters of potential fraud into their own hands. The Medicaid market leader suggested seven possible reforms to CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz in a Wednesday letter, advocating for the agency to ease a “complex web of regulations.” (Tong, 2/27)

Also —

Vice President Vance began his new role leading the Trump administration’s war on fraud with a bang this week by announcing a nearly $260 million moratorium on Medicaid funding for Minnesota. Strategists on both sides of the political spectrum say the campaign carries risks for the administration as it seeks to move on from the deadly immigration campaign in the state earlier this year. Maddie Twomey, communications director for the Democratic-aligned health advocacy group Protect Our Care, said attacking health care is rarely a politically sound move. (Choi, 3/1)

Dr. Oz has a show again. But instead of promoting health supplements and weight loss tips, he’s explaining the myriad ways the Trump administration is fighting waste, fraud and abuse in health care. And while the topic may have changed — and the videos air on social media, not cable television — the Trump administration hopes the effect is just the same: a rapt audience eager to believe, and enthralled with the simple way he explains complex topics. (Haslett and King, 2/27)