health

NEW YORK: The New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) wants the state to be aware that a statewide exchange solution may not work well for them. The HRA released a brief discussing the creation of a Navigator program, which gives grants to qualified organizations to provide health insurance education and enrollment assistance services. HRA's brief focuses on such a program in the city and looks at the most effective ways to implement the required services.

OKLAHOMA:  The health care compact measure pressed by state Sen. Clark Jolley cleared the House last week and now returns to the state Senate for final consideration. The bill lays out the basis for Oklahoma's participation in an agreement with other states in an attempt to restore authority and responsibility for health care regulation to member states. The compact would allow Oklahoma to create health care policies by joining an interstate compact that supporters believe supersedes prior federal law. The compact, which has been introduced in 14 states, was signed recently into law in Georgia. The concept is also advancing in Missouri, where a compact proposal cleared the state Senate and is headed to Governor Jay Nixon. Compact proposals are also alive in Montana, Colorado and Texas.

TEXAS:  Republicans pushed the next two-year budget through the Texas Senate last week by using a procedural maneuver to bypass Senate tradition requiring a two-thirds agreement to consider any legislation. Senators voted 19-12, along party lines, to approve the plan. The move clears a path for negotiations to begin with the House on the $176.5 billion spending plan. The plan would make about $11 billion in cuts, which is less severe than those in the bare-bones House version. Public schools and Medicaid providers, including nursing homes, would take the brunt of the cuts. In the face of criticism on both sides of the aisle, Senator Steve Ogden, the bill author, offered an amendment that stripped about $3 billion in rainy-day fund money from the budget. The move helped garner support from conservative Republican senators but cost the support of key Democrats.

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