Off Topic: Dem Maps View of Medicare/Medicaid Cuts by Congressional District.

HERE; clicking on district maps produces a PDF profile for that district.  Seems likely that future efforts to create savings will produce similar maps, no?

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Off Topic: New CRS Report - Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Provisions in Health Care Bill.

Report is HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Off Topic: Baucus Health Care Bill Resources.

Thanks to Bespacific:

• Chairman’s Mark - America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009 Scheduled for Markup By the Senate Committee on Finance On September 22, 2009 [223 pages, PDF]
• 9-16-09 JCT Analysis of the America's Healthy Future Act
• 9-16-09: Finance Committee Memo on Estimates of the America’s Health Future Act
• CBO: Preliminary Analysis of Specifications for the Chairman's Mark of the America's Healthy Future Act, September 16, 2009: "..the Chairman’s proposal would establish a mandate for most legal residents of the United States to obtain health insurance; set up insurance “exchanges” through which certain individuals and families could receive federal subsidies to substantially reduce the cost of purchasing that coverage; significantly expand eligibility for Medicaid; substantially reduce the growth of Medicare’s payment rates for most services (relative to the growth rates projected under current law); impose an excise tax on insurance plans with relatively high premiums; and make various other changes to the Medicaid and Medicare programs and the federal tax code...enacting the Chairman’s proposal would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $49 billion over the 2010–2019 period..."

Corrected: House Financial Services Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on Work and Health Care for HUD Tenants.

Hearing is on MONDAY, not Saturday....

Hearing is scheduled for Friday in NYC; hearing page is HERE.

I am hopeful that hearing includes discussion about Express Lane income eligibility provisions that would allow housing authority income determinations to be used for Medicaid/SCHIP care eligibility. (See my prior blog post on Express Lane HERE).

I project that housing authorities provide housing for close to 4 million children nationwide.

A fuller explanation of Express Lane and automated enrollment in Medicaid and SCHIP can be found in this Urban Institute publication HERE.

(I have tried to contact two different individuals in Oregon DHS but to date have had no response to my Express Lane questions).

SCHIP Bill To be Signed by President Today.

CNN Money story is HERE.

Text of final bill is HERE.

CRS Report on Increases in Federal Share of Medicaid Payments to States.

Congressional Research Service report is HERE, discusses several of the proposals to boost federal share of Medicaid reimbursement rates. (AKA "federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP)").

Oregon's current FMAP for FY 09 is 62.45%, as shown on page 6.

On page 14, table indicates that a House passed proposal would boost Oregon's FMAP rate by 9.41 percentage points (to 71.86%).

On page 16 a Senate Finance Committee proposal would boost the Oregon FMAP rate by 8.95 percentage points (to 71.4%).