Study: Medicaid payments vary substantially

While Medicare payments are more or less uniform across the U.S., Medicaid payments vary dramatically, according to a new study by advocacy group Public Citizen. The study compared primary-care payments for 11 procedures from Medicare and Medicaid, finding that Medicaid, at times, paid more than 40 percent less.

The bottom five states, which included Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia, generally had better benefits and easier eligibility rules than higher-paying states, researchers said. Alaska, Wyoming, Delaware and Arizona had among the highest Medicaid reimbursement rates.

To learn more about the survey:
- read this Philadelphia Inquirer article
- read the Public Citizen report (.pdf)

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