2-9 NWR Fixing Medicaid

This is your Northwest report for Thursday, February 9 I'm David Sparks and we just heard from the House of Representatives, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) make a rather strong statement about health insurance. "Our goal is straight forward - to modernize America's health care laws by making what's best for patients our top priority. Indeed we do start today by going after bad actors, not ignoring them. By going after people who shield their income and deprive people who need help in Medicaid the services that they need. As the committee of jurisdiction, we're focused on ways to strengthen and improve the Medicaid program. We all agree that Medicaid is a critically important safety net for millions of our nation's citizens, low-income adults, children, pregnant women, the elderly, or those who are blind or have disabilities. We're committed to protecting these patients and to supporting innovative, patient-centered solutions at the state and local levels, particularly as we work to ensure the solvency of this program."

Elsewhere, agri-pulse.com Is reporting that there is more evidence of a continued downturn in the US farm economy. USDA says net farm income meaning (gross farm income minus production expenses) is likely to decline this year by 8.7% to $62.3 billion. That makes this the fourth straight decline since the peak in 2013. Adjusted for inflation, it would be the worst performance for the US farm economy since 2002 according to the USDA.