Up to 20M New Medicaid Recipients Under Reform Will Face Access Problems
April 28, 2010
Medicaid will cover as many as 20 million of the 32 million Americans gaining coverage under health reform, but these patients will face barriers to access, according to a report by the New York Times.
Even now, many physicians don't accept Medicaid patients because Medicaid pays less than other payors and filing claims involves a lot of paperwork and long payment delays.
The new law will encourage more doctors to participate by raising Medicaid payments for primary care to Medicare levels in 2013 and 2014, and will not require the states to share the extra costs, but these increases are temporary and do not apply to specialists.
Under the reform law, Medicaid eligibility will be extended in 2014 to non-senior adults under 133 percent of the federal poverty level, which would be $14,404 for an individual and $29,326 for a family of four in current dollars.
Read the New York Times' report on health reform.
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