A Department of Veterans Affairs claims processor proposed cutting a veteran’s heart-condition disability rating from 100 percent to 10 percent, pointing to a clear and unmistakable error in the earlier decision that had granted the higher rating. The notice that actually reached the veteran gave a different reason: that his heart condition had improved. That…

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services announced on September 10, 2026 that nearly 700,000 Medicaid recipients would begin receiving letters that week about federal changes scheduled to start in January 2027, including work requirements and renewals every six months. The letter is the first in a series of communications, and the department said automated calls…

New Mexico’s Health Care Authority projects that about 101,760 Medicaid members could lose coverage for at least two months because of the more frequent eligibility checks that begin January 1, 2027. The estimate, released at an August 31, 2026 news conference, comes as the state prepares to move working-age adults covered through Medicaid expansion from…

Pennsylvanians who apply for Medicaid before January 1, 2027 can still receive up to three months of retroactive coverage for earlier medical bills, even if the state does not finish processing the application until after the new year, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services said on September 22, 2026. Applications received on or after January…

Five Medicaid enrollees, several national physician groups and the city of Columbus, Ohio, sued the federal government on Sept. 18, 2026, over how the new Medicaid work requirement treats people who are medically frail. The case, filed in federal court in Maryland, argues that a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule adds a hurdle…

The federal government has started sending out $50 billion meant to keep rural hospitals, clinics and health workers running, and the first checks are anything but even. New Jersey’s share comes to $147 million and Texas’s comes to $281 million, even though both states are getting money from the exact same program on the exact…

A single senior veterans service representative at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Philadelphia Regional Benefit Office authorized about 85,300 disability rating decisions between fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2024, spending an average of 4.7 minutes on each one before signing off. A federal watchdog that reviewed the office’s work found the pace was not…

Health Share of Oregon, the Medicaid coordinated care organization covering the Portland metro area, violated federal or state rules in 21 of 100 prior-authorization denials a federal audit sampled — a one-in-five failure rate on the exact paperwork that decides whether a Medicaid enrollee’s surgery, medication or dental procedure gets covered. For a family relying…

Starting with Medicaid applications filed on or after January 1, 2027, the program will stop covering most of the medical bills a person racked up before they got around to applying. For decades, Medicaid could reach back and pay for care going back three months before an application, as long as the person qualified during…

All 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have applied to a new federal program that ties Medicaid’s drug prices to the lowest price paid by other wealthy countries. Forty of those states and Puerto Rico have already signed the agreement that makes participation official, and the rest are working against a hard…