Medicaid

PerformRx L.L.C., a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based AmeriHealth Mercy announced a deal to provide pharmacy benefit management services to San Francisco Health Plan, which serves low- and moderate-income families. The agreement, PerformRx's sixth in California, goes into effect July 1 and covers 78,000 recipients of Medicaid and other health insurance programs. PerformRx said that the addition of the San Francisco Health Plan means that its customer base covers about 30 percent of California's Medicaid population.

Without all the fancy trimmings Pope Francis will not need to utter the usual cliché that he has been humbled by his elevation. On the contrary, the new pope has been elevated by his humility. Aaron M. Fine, Swarthmore Compassion for needy welcome Congratulations to Pope Francis on becoming the first pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit to step into the role. I am comforted by his passion for the poor and his personal background. Great pick by the Vatican at a critical time.

Medicaid is first a moral issue, not an economic one. The poorest and the sickest among us deserve better than a crass political debate over the potential economic windfall Pennsylvania may receive if our state takes federal dollars to expand Medicaid. Instead, the debate should focus on the health and dignity of low-income individuals who are relying on Medicaid, or soon will, and how the system is failing to serve our most vulnerable. The Medicaid system's failure is so broad that Forbes Magazine called it a "humanitarian crisis" and a scandal bigger than Bernie Madoff's investment schemes and the Wall Street bailouts.

HARRISBURG - The number of eligible people purged from Pennsylvania's Medicaid rolls amid the Corbett administration's crackdown aimed at welfare waste could be far higher than state officials told lawmakers this week, lawyers for the poor told the Associated Press on Thursday. Citing Department of Public Welfare figures, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia said that nearly half the people, or 7,331, who responded to a letter sent by the agency in the fall had since reenrolled in Medicaid.

Don't look for Gov. Corbett to thank the state judge who just ordered him to reinstate funding to provide working-poor Pennsylvanians with greater access to health insurance. But Commonwealth Court President Judge Dan Pellegrini in effect made it that much easier for the governor to adopt the right course on a key health-care policy decision - one that could benefit thousands of Pennsylvania residents now going without adequate medical coverage. Pellegrini ruled that Corbett and state lawmakers erred in early 2011 by diverting federal tobacco-settlement funds from the state's adultBasic and Medicaid insurance programs to other needs.

Pennsylvania ranked fourth last year among states in the amount of Medicaid expenditures, but 41st in the amount of fraud recoveries relative to expenditures, according federal data. Pennsylvania's overall Medicaid fraud recoveries jumped to $44 million in fiscal 2012 from $24 million the year before. The state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit conducted 321 investigations last year, up from 272. In New Jersey, recoveries were $84 million. New Jersey, which conducted 358 investigations, ranked 11th in Medicaid expenditures and 11th in the amount of money recovered from fraud.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced that the Commonwealth will get $2 million in a settlement with Healthpoint Ltd., a Smith & Nephew subsidiary, and DFB Pharmaceuticals to resolve allegations that the companies caused false claims to be submitted to Medicaid for an unapproved drug, Xenaderm, which was ineligible for reimbursement by the program. The money is part of a $48 million settlement between the U.S. Justice Department and the companies. The state's money will be returned to the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare.

HARRISBURG - The pressure on Gov. Corbett to expand the state's Medicaid rolls is no longer only geographic; it's now coming from within his own party. First there was Gov. Christie's announcement Tuesday that New Jersey would join other Pennsylvania neighbors - New York, Maryland, and Ohio - by opting in on the Medicaid expansion made available to all states under the Affordable Care Act. Now the heat is coming from some of Corbett's fellow Republicans in the state legislature.

Despite his opposition to President Obama's health-care overhaul, Gov. Christie said Tuesday that New Jersey would take money from the Affordable Care Act to extend Medicaid coverage to tens of thousands of low-income individuals. In accepting the expansion, Christie, who is up for reelection this year, joined seven other Republican governors in bucking a GOP trend aimed at countering a key element of what is known as Obamacare. Fourteen Republican governors, including Gov. Corbett, have rejected expanding Medicaid in their states.

New Jerseyans can breathe a sigh of relief that Gov. Christie on Tuesday joined the growing ranks of Republican governors savvy enough to put aside party loyalty and embrace a key element of Obamacare. Christie's decision to enact an expansion of Medicaid is a move that, as the governor noted in his budget speech, "will provide health insurance to tens of thousands of low-income New Jerseyans, help keep our hospitals financially healthy, and actually save money" for the state's taxpayers.