Cost and Financing

The feds are running a demo program that would allow Medicaid reimbursement for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. Medicaid currently does not reimburse for enrollees ages 21 to 64 for private inpatient psychiatric institutions. Because of this exclusion, enrollees will go to a general hospital’s emergency department. Even though an emergency department may not be equipped to properly treat an individual, they are required to accept everyone by federal law.

Health care spending is 18 percent of the national economy so it is no wonder that big health issues face the states in 2014. The all-consuming question for states is how to contain costs. The Affordable Care Act kicks in full force in 2014 and states that haven't already decided to expand Medicaid eligibility may take up the question. The health marketplaces, while slow to start in October, were making more headway as 2014 began. Nearly 4 million (3.9) individuals had been deemed Medicaid or CHIP eligible and another 2.1 million selected private health insurance policies through the federal or state marketplaces by the end of December 2013. States will look at systems and delivery methods, including mental health, aging and professional scope of practice issues.