Dems want to make Obamacare's boost to Medicaid rates permanent

Two Democratic senators introduced a bill Thursday that would boost Medicaid provider reimbursement rates back to Medicare levels — part of an Obamacare provision that was supposed to be temporary. The health care law upped Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care doctors to Medicare levels for 2013 and 2014 alone. The bump ended Dec. 31, bringing Medicaid back down to its typical level — putting traditional Medicaid patients, and the almost 10 million Medicaid expansion patients, at risk of losing their doctors. Because Medicaid pays health care providers some of the lowest rates around, many physicians opt not to accept the coverage at all.