WASHINGTON (CN) - Rules allowing higher costs for 13 million Medicaid recipients are being held for review by President Obama's new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid leadership to detemine if the regulations should go into place as written.
The rules, which permit states to charge or increase premiums or co-pays for approximately one-fifth of the Medicaid rolls, also require medical providers' to take a hit to their Medicaid payments by the same amount regardless of whether the doctor receives payment. Under the rules, states also may use pricing to encourage the use of generic drugs and the use of doctor's offices over emergency rooms. Medicaid recipients exempted from the rules include children in foster care, pregnant women and terminally ill hospice patients.
The agency will take public comments until Feb. 26.
Click the document icon on the front page for details and links to the regulations. The document icon under the "Forest Products, Tribal Foster Care & More" heading leads to other new regulations.
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