The National Governors Association (NGA) updated its principles for Medicaid reform yesterday, focusing on strategies to curb prescription drug and long-term care costs, and on giving states more flexibility to impose additional cost-sharing. The new principles focus on issues that are likely to be considered as Congress is set to make cuts to the Medicaid program next month. The report, Short-Run Medicaid Reform, expands on the Medicaid reform principles the group released in June. The NGA seemed to have mended its rift with the Congressional Medicaid Commission as the two proposals to reform Medicaid are very similar. The NGA commented, "The Governors appreciate the fact that the Medicaid Commission has come to many of the same policy conclusions that are recommended in this paper and they look forward to working with them over the next 16 months as they focus on the long-run restructuring of Medicaid." Not all groups were satisfied with the NGA principles when they were first released in June, nor their revision yesterday. FamiliesUSA, a nonpartisan nonprofit group advocating on behalf of health care consumers, released a report last month expressing reservations about the timing of the NGA principles and criticized Congress as "putting the cart before the horse." FamiliesUSA urged both Congress and the NGA to fully study proposed policy changes to gauge their impact on Medicaid beneficiaries before any budget cuts are made. In addition, the American Public Health Association (APHA) released a white paper yesterday urging both Congress and the NGA to protect public health services under Medicaid. APHA raised concerns some of the policy proposals being recommended to Congress by the NGA and the Medicaid Commission would "eliminate the guarantee of treatment" from the Medicaid program and undermine its goal of decreasing the number of Americans without health insurance. In particular, the APHA report urged lawmakers not to end the guarantee of preventative health services for children, saying doing so would put children's "educational attainment, emotional and cognitive development, and lives at risk."

From the Washington Post: The Bush administration has drafted regulations that would ease pollution controls on older, dirtier power plants and could allow those that modernize to emit more pollution, rather than less. The language could undercut dozens of pending state and federal lawsuits aimed at forcing coal-fired plants to cut back emissions of harmful pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, said lawyers who worked on the cases.

The Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty, income, and health insurance in the United States and the news is not good. The number of Americans living in poverty rose for the forth year in a row as 1.1 million more Americans were officially poor in 2004 than the year before. The data shows almost 1 in 5 American children live in poverty. In additon, almost 1 million more Americans lacked health insurance, primarily due to a decrease in employer-provided health care. Unfortunately for working families, total household income remained stagnant and income for men and women employed in full-time jobs decreased significantly. This is the first time ever that household income has failed to increase for five straight years. The Census data give just a glimpse of the reality being faced by more and more working Americans who are being forced to live without health insurance and have less money with which to purchase their own as employers increasingly focus on their profit margins at the expense of their workers. The current economic policies are not working for most Americans - only those already well-off. The decline in indicators of poverty and income for the fourth straight year should be a wake-up call for members of Congress and the administration who are seeking to make those policies permanent. It is time for a change. Read More: > Census Data Full Report> Income Stagnated and Poverty Rose in 2004, Census Shows > Coalition on Human Needs Release on Census Poverty Data > Economic Recovery Failed to Benefit Much of Population in 2004

The Alliance for Justice just released a new report on John Roberts. Check it out!