HHS blocks partial Medicaid expansion

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary said Tuesday that states can't expand their Medicaid programs only partially under the reform law if they want to receive full federal funding, FierceHealthFinance reported. "The law does not provide for a phased-in or partial expansion," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in guidance accompanying a letter to governors. The reform law requires HHS to completely pay for the cost of covering newly eligible individuals during the first three years of enrollment, dropping to 90 percent by 2020. Article