Blueprint - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG.

LILO H. STAINTON | MARCH 7, 2017

New Jersey’s Medicaid program serves almost 2 million clients; increased cost efficiencies and enhanced responsiveness are a must — especially with ACA under fire

New Jersey’s Medicaid program, the health insurance plan that covers nearly one in every five residents, is in desperate need of modernization to better serve patients and provide them higher-quality care while remaining financially sustainable in the years to come.

That’s the assessment of a diverse group of healthcare stakeholders convened more than a year ago by the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute to review the massive program, explore successful efforts in other states, and recommend reforms to improve the delivery of Medicaid in the Garden State. Representatives of the group, whose work was funded by the Nicholson Foundation, unveiled on Monday the results of their work: the Medicaid 2.0 Blueprint, a detailed plan with 24 specific recommendations designed to make the system more efficient, better integrated, and more responsive to patient needs.

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/03/06/medicaid-2-0-provides-blueprint-for-healthcare-reform-in-garden-state/?utm_campaign=new-jersey-politics&utm_content=2017-08-03-9074583&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics

by JOHN FUND June 3, 2016 4:00 AM @JOHNFUND Plan B for November

Hillary Clinton’s mounting political — and possibly legal — problems over her e-mail server led me to write a column speculating that Democrats might move to install Vice President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee if her poll numbers tank between now and the Democratic convention in late July. Biden might be joined on the ticket by fiery progressive senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in an effort to placate furious backers of Senator Bernie Sanders.

My NRO colleague Andrew C. McCarthy called my suggestion “increasingly plausible,” and pointed out that Democrats had made just such a switch in 2002 when their one-vote Senate majority was in jeopardy. An ethically challenged senator, Bob Torricelli of New Jersey, was trailing his GOP opponent by double-digit margins following release of a devastating Justice Department report on his involvement in bribery and campaign-finance scandals. Democrats made Torricelli “an offer he couldn’t refuse,” forcing him to leave the Senate race only 36 days before the election and replacing him with former senator Frank Lautenberg. “The lateness of the switcheroo denied Republicans a meaningful opportunity to campaign against Lautenberg, in violation of state election laws,” writes McCarthy. “But New Jersey’s solidly Democratic judiciary predictably looked the other way.” Lautenberg went on to win in November (although Democrats still lost their Senate majority, and didn’t regain it until 2006).

MEDICAID 2.0 PROVIDES BLUEPRINT FOR HEALTHCARE REFORM IN GARDEN STATE

Democrats’ Dumping of Torricelli Could Be Blueprint for What Happens to Hillary