Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Granite Care: NH Medicaid reform shows promise
[Editorial, "Granite Caring: Stephen's program shows promise," The New Hampshire Union Leader, 22 August 2006.]
The Flint Hills Center has highlighted New Hampshire's Medicaid reform proposal as an example of a possible course for Kansas policymakers to follow. Here's an editorial from a New Hampshire paper praising the early success of the program:
Though it is too early to draw definitive conclusions about the success of Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen's Granite Care program, early signs are good.
Granite Care is the name given to Stephen's overhaul of state Medicaid services. One of the intentions was to move Medicare recipients from nursing homes to less expensive and more comfortable home-based care.
In the first six months of the program, 67 additional Medicare recipients went to home-based care -- a good number for a six-month tally.
Granite Care recalls the welfare reform debate of a decade ago. Both drew criticism from activists who claimed the reforms would hurt aid recipients. We now know that welfare reform did exactly the opposite. Granite Care appears to be producing similar results: providing more compassionate aid at a lower cost.
Of course, the program will have to be monitored over a longer period of time, but so far the indicators are positive.
The Flint Hills Center has highlighted New Hampshire's Medicaid reform proposal as an example of a possible course for Kansas policymakers to follow. Here's an editorial from a New Hampshire paper praising the early success of the program:
Though it is too early to draw definitive conclusions about the success of Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen's Granite Care program, early signs are good.
Granite Care is the name given to Stephen's overhaul of state Medicaid services. One of the intentions was to move Medicare recipients from nursing homes to less expensive and more comfortable home-based care.
In the first six months of the program, 67 additional Medicare recipients went to home-based care -- a good number for a six-month tally.
Granite Care recalls the welfare reform debate of a decade ago. Both drew criticism from activists who claimed the reforms would hurt aid recipients. We now know that welfare reform did exactly the opposite. Granite Care appears to be producing similar results: providing more compassionate aid at a lower cost.
Of course, the program will have to be monitored over a longer period of time, but so far the indicators are positive.
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