Core and Group Health

Florida's experimental, five-county Medicaid managed care program is providing such poor service that the state should suspend plans for expanding it statewide, according to a report released Monday by a liberal-leaning think tank.

One million residents in Washington state don't have health insurance and unpaid costs have risen to $1 billion a year, insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler said Tuesday.

President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in the Senate are using a critical year-end spending bill as political leverage to try to force Republicans to negotiate bipartisan legislation to extend payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits due to expire at the end of the year.

The House is expected to vote Tuesday on a year-end economic package that includes a provision raising premiums for "high-income" Medicare beneficiaries, now defined as those making $85,000 and above for individuals, or $170,000 for families.

The final regulations for the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) Program are similar to the draft version of the CO-OP regulations posted in July, according to Paul Keckley.

Gov. Scott Walker's administration received preliminary approval Friday from the federal government for some Medicaid cuts it sought to balance a budget shortfall, but a final determination won't come until later, raising the possibility 53,000 people may lose coverage in the meantime.