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Oregon Medicaid study calls benefits of expansion into question

A closely watched study of Oregon’s 2008 Medicaid expansion has prompted some scholarly second-thoughts on the benefits of the program. While not all bad news, the results published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (link is to free preview) are less than optimal. This randomized, controlled study showed that Medicaid coverage generated no […]

Washingtonians spend the most in the nation on dental services

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on 2009 health spending numbers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In Washington, personal health spending per capita was $6,782 in 2009 — 28th highest in the nation, and slightly below the national average of $6,815. That total number is also broken out into categories: Dental […]

State budget beginning to take shape amid uncertainty

  The House GOP released a “fund education first” budget proposal yesterday, adding a net $556 million in K-12 spending as a down payment on McCleary. (We always say “down payment” because the state Supreme Court expects considerably more by 2017. This is the year lawmakers have to show a good faith effort.) Here’s the […]

Another day, another $300 million added to the state budget problem

The Caseload Forecast Council met this morning. Although the news generally was mixed-to-positive, the bottom line effect was bad news: Increased medical utilization costs added $301 million to maintenance-level costs. Here’s the worksheet for the two bienniashowing the detail. And here’s the Seattle Times report pegging the shortfall now at about $1.3 billion before making […]

Handicapping the economy – mixed reviews ahead of the 3/20 state revenue forecast

Kriss has written (here and here) that the next state revenue forecast will likely come in below the November numbers, adding to the budget woes that will dominate the closing weeks of the legislative session. As has been the case through much of this frustrating semi-recovery, expectations continue to be mixed. Economist Mark Perry has […]

State Senate sets city limits on Seattle sick live ordinance

Business groups opposing Seattle’s controversial paid sick leave ordinance won one yesterday, as the state Senate passed ESB 5276 on a strong bipartisan vote, 29-20. The city’s ordinance would have applied the rule to employers operating in the city, regardless of whether the firm was located within Seattle city limits.The Senate bill sets limits, city […]

To expand or not to expand Medicaid…

Twenty-four governors (including Gov. Inslee) currently support Medicaid expansion. Whether or not to expand is a complicated question, as Charles Blahous of the Mercatus Center explores in a new study: “The Affordable Care Act’s Optional Medicaid Expansion: Considerations Facing State Governments.” In a blog post yesterday, he wrote, Setting aside the larger question of whether […]

Association health plans are a solution, not a problem

A half million Washingtonians currently get high quality, affordable health insurance through association health plans. As AWB president Don Brunell points out in the Columbian, Washington’s plans grew out of the health care reform debates in the early 1990s. Today, these plans allow small businesses to offer comprehensive insurance to their employees. Yet, despite their […]

Paid sick leave in Washington, and a new study on Connecticut's law

The House Committee on Labor and Workforce Development held a hearing this morning on HB 1313, which would require Washington employers to provide paid sick and safe leave to their employees. The bill is very similar to Seattle’s paid sick and safe time ordinance, which has been in effect since September 1, 2012. We wrote […]

Medicaid: "not a bottomless bucket of money"

The Washington Post’s Wonkblog today highlights Oregon’s Medicaid demonstration project, which uses a “global budget” in an attempt to control health care costs. In exchange for $1.9 billion over five years from the federal government, “Oregon’s Medicaid program must grow at a rate that is 2 percent slower than the rest of the country, ultimately […]