CMS Approves High-Profile Obamacare Medicaid Waiver
The CMS has approved a waiver that means Arkansas won't put residents eligible for the expansion on traditional Medicaid, but will instead be able to offer them private coverage. Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat leading a deeply conservative state, crafted the option as a way to expand health care coverage without fully signing on to an expanded government program. His administration has been negotiating with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for months over the waiver after the idea received an unexpectedly warm reception from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Several other states have been…