HHS IG Investigation: Half of Doctors Serving Medicaid Patients Unavailable | Pelosi Opposes Water for California Farmers

CA Drought - Nancy Pelosi Votes No On Water for CA 

Today in Washington, D.C.
The House reconvened at 10 AM today.  The House then passed by voice vote S. 1691 — "To amend title 5, United States Code, to improve the security of the United States border and to provide for reforms and rates of pay for border patrol agents."

The House is expected to consider today the following bills:
S. 2244 - To extend the termination date of the Terrorism Insurance Program established under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, and for other purposes."
S. 1000 — "To require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to prepare a crosscut budget for restoration activities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and for other purposes."

Yesterday, the House passed the following bills:
S. 2759 (Voice Vote) — "To release the City of St. Clair, Missouri, from all restrictions, conditions, and limitations on the use, encumbrance, conveyance, and closure of the St. Clair Regional Airport."
H.R. 5781 (230-182) — "To provide short-term water supplies to drought-stricken California." While 6 Democrats joined rRepublicans in voting for this bill, 182 Democrats said NO to water supplies to Californian including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
H.R. 5764 (Voice Vote)— "To authorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and for other purposes."
H.R. 5705 (Voice Vote) — "To modify certain provisions relating to the Propane Education and Research Council."
H.R. 5701 (Voice Vote)— "To require that certain Federal lands be held in trust by the United States for the benefit of federally recognized tribes in the State of Oregon, and for other purposes."
H.R. 5185 (Voice Vote) — "To reauthorize the Young Women's Breast Health Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act of 2009."
H.R. 5086 (Voice Vote) — "To amend the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study on the feasibility of designating the Chief Standing Bear National Historic Trail, and for other purposes."
H.R. 5059 (Voice Vote)— "To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide for the conduct of annual evaluations of mental health care and suicide prevention programs of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, to review the terms or characterization of the discharge or separation of certain individuals from the Armed Forces, to require a pilot program on loan repayment for psychiatrists who agree to serve in the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes."

After the House passed H.R. 5781, the California Emergency Drought Relief Act, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) urged the Senate to Pass this bill: “The people in the Central Valley are living through a disaster, and this measure provides the temporary relief they need. This relief doesn't just help Californians – it helps every business and every household that counts on California agriculture. I commend and fully support Leader McCarthy, Rep. Valadao, and Rep. Nunes in their ongoing efforts to restore an abundant supply of water and ease the strain on Central Valley farmers and workers. Now that the House has again acted to alleviate this crisis, I hope the Senate will pass this measure without delay.”

As noted previously, 186 House Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), opposed drought relief and do not want action taken to release water to the farmers in California Central Valley. Reference prior NBC article asking "How Long Will California Survive Life Without Water."

The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of the motion to concur in the House message to accompany H.R. 3979, the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Authorization bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has filled the amendment tree on H.R. 3979, preventing any amendments to the bill.

Tomorrow, the Senate will vote on cloture on H.R. 3979.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 86-12 to confirm two nominees to the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

More On Obamacare Failures via a HHS IG Investigation:
Democrat proponents of Obamacare have put a great deal of emphasis on getting more people enrolled in Medicaid, but The New York Times reported yesterday that a new report by the Health and Human Services inspector general finds that half of the doctors who are supposedly serving Medicaid patients won’t offer appointments.

According to The NYT, “Large numbers of doctors who are listed as serving Medicaid patients are not available to treat them, federal investigators said in a new report. ‘Half of providers could not offer appointments to enrollees,’ the investigators said in the report which will be issued on Tuesday.

“Many of the doctors were not accepting new Medicaid patients or could not be found at their last known addresses, according to the report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services. The study raises questions about access to care for people gaining Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

“The health law is fueling rapid growth in Medicaid, with enrollment up by nine million people, or 16 percent, in the last year, the department said. . . .The investigators, led by the inspector general, Daniel R. Levinson, called doctors’ offices and found that in many cases the doctors were unavailable or unable to make appointments. More than one-third of providers could not be found at the location listed by a Medicaid managed-care plan.

‘In these cases,’ Mr. Levinson said, ‘callers were sometimes told that the practice had never heard of the provider, or that the provider had practiced at the location in the past but had retired or left the practice. Some providers had left months or even years before the time of the call.’

“About 8 percent of providers were at the locations listed, but said they did not participate in the Medicaid health plan with which they were supposedly affiliated. Another 8 percent participated in Medicaid, but were not accepting new patients.

‘When providers listed as participating in a plan cannot offer appointments, it may create a significant obstacle for an enrollee seeking care,’ Mr. Levinson said. ‘Moreover, it raises questions about the adequacy of provider networks. It suggests that the actual size of provider networks may be considerably smaller than what is presented by Medicaid managed-care plans.’ . . .

“Among the providers who offered appointments, the median wait time was two weeks. (The number of providers above the median is the same as the number below it.) ‘Over a quarter of providers had wait times of more than one month, and 10 percent had wait times longer than two months,’ the report said. . . .

“Primary care providers, such as family doctors, internists and gynecologists, were less likely to offer appointments than specialists, the report said. But specialists tended to have longer wait times, with a median wait of 20 days, compared with 10 days for a primary care provider.”

So while people are signing up for Medicaid, in many cases, they can’t get an appointment with a doctor, many doctors aren’t taking new Medicaid patients, there’s a great deal of confusion over which doctors accept which plans, and for those who can get appointments, there are significant wait times.

Adding to the problem is a shortage of primary care doctors, as the AP reported earlier this week. “[N]early 1 in 5 Americans lives in a region designated as having a shortage of primary care physicians, and the number of doctors entering the field isn't expected to keep pace with demand.”

As California insurance agent Anthony Halby told the AP, “Coverage does not equal access.”

Last week, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told Roll Call that Obamacare “is the single worst piece of legislation passed in the last half century,” and said “we will go at that law . . . in every way that we can.” He added, “[W]e certainly will have a vote on proceeding to a bill to repeal Obamacare… it was a very large issue in the campaign.

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