NO IMMEDIATE MASSHEALTH CUTS

New federal rules restricting eligibility for the Medicaid health insurance program will not affect Massachusetts immediately, but could make it harder in coming years for the state to assist children and families with moderate incomes who are covered as part of Massachusetts' health insurance initiative, state officials said earlier this month.

With the federal government's permission, the state in 2006 expanded Medicaid coverage of children and insurance subsidies for families with incomes up to three times the federal poverty level -- or about $62,000 for a family of four. But the Bush administration, which pays for at least half the cost of Medicaid nationwide, is barring some other states from similar expansions, saying Medicaid needs to focus on the lowest-income families.

"We expect to maintain the expansions," which cover thousands of patients, said Thomas Dehner, the state's Medicaid director. "But our overall program is all up for discussion" because the state must renew federal approval for the expansions this summer.

--Adapted From “White Coat Notes: No Immediate Medicaid Cuts”, by Alice Dembner, The Boston Globe, January 7, 2008, at: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2008/01/07/laparoscopy_skills_to_be_tested/

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