Latest news with #RyanLong
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Xcel customers to receive $5 credit on monthly bill
SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — South Dakotan Xcel Energy customers will receive a $5 monthly credit to their bill starting in June, according to a news release from Xcel. Xcel Energy is moving forward with plans to deliver $25 million back to North Dakota and South Dakota customers on their bills through federal tax credits on the energy generated by the company's nuclear fleet. Former state worker accused of forging marijuana card Xcel Energy's two nuclear power plants, Monticello and Prairie Island, together account for nearly 25% of the electricity used by customers across the company's five-state Upper Midwest system, a news release said. This is the first time customers will see savings from the federal tax credit on nuclear energy generation, which the company advocated for in recent law. Starting this month, the average residential customer in South Dakota will receive $5.08 a month in savings, totaling $50.80 through February 2026. Xcel Energy services most of the Sioux Falls area, along with other areas of southeastern South Dakota. 'Our nuclear power plants have produced safe, reliable, always-available electricity for our customers across the Upper Midwest for more than 50 years. Now, tax credits on the energy they generate will produce savings for our customers,' Ryan Long, president of Xcel Energy—Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, said in a news release. 'Nuclear energy is an important piece of American energy security. It helps us support economic growth in the Upper Midwest, deliver reliable and resilient electricity, and keep customers' bills as low as possible,' Long said in a release. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
04-03-2025
- Health
- Axios
How the GOP's Medicaid cuts could hit big hospital revenues
A little-known fact outside of the health nerds circle is that some providers actually get pretty high payment rates now for seeing Medicaid enrollees. Between the lines: What's been a brewing think-tank fight over Medicaid payments to hospitals and doctors could soon spill onto the main political stage should Republicans decide this is the most politically palatable way to cut the program's spending by hundreds of billions of dollars. Context: State-directed Medicaid payments have ballooned in size and allow some providers to now get paid similarly for seeing Medicaid and commercially insured patients. That's been great for states, hospitals and arguably Medicaid patients, but not so great for the federal budget. It's also a relatively new phenomenon; CMS first allowed states to begin directing managed care organizations to pay providers under certain circumstances in 2016. "We've seen sort of the initial explosion of these, so the growth trend is going to be astronomical as more and more states figure out how to game the system," said the Paragon Health Institute's Ryan Long, who until recently was a top GOP health aide on the Hill. The intrigue: Some reform advocates argue that this is indeed an easier political lift, namely because it's had bipartisan support in the past and most members simply don't know how much providers are being paid to see Medicaid patients these days. "We've now constructed a welfare program to be a financial windfall for nonprofit hospitals, and Congress should address that," said Paragon President Brian Blase, who has been on the Hill discussing the think tank's policy views with members. Spoiler: Providers won't like it if Republicans go this route. "If you go after it, either you're going to have hospitals and other settings having to cut back on services, because you're not getting paid sufficiently for them, or you're going to have to go to other payers and there will be more cost shift," Kahn said. By the numbers: MACPAC has estimated that directed payments approved as of August totaled more than $110 billion in 2024 — a 60% increase over the projections they made based on arrangements approved as of early 2023. MACPAC identified 29 payment arrangements that would each increase provider payments by more than $1 billion a year. Most of these raise provider reimbursement rates above the Medicare rate, and 11 bumped up rates to at least 90% of the average commercial rate. Commercial payments are often multiples of what Medicare pays, and are frequently criticized as exorbitant. Health systems were the beneficiaries in 24 of the 29 large payment arrangements. HCA received nearly $4 billion from 18 different states in 2023 related to supplemental payment programs, according to a Raymond James investor note from last year. Tenet received nearly $1 billion in 2023, and Universal Health Services expected to receive around $1.3 billion from supplemental programs in 2024. These payments are often financed through provider taxes, which have been targeted by both parties in the past. These taxes, levied by states on providers, ultimately allow the state to get reimbursed more from the federal government. Reforms to the policy, depending on how they're structured, could save the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars, per CBO — a solid chunk of the Medicaid money Republicans may need. What they're saying: Whether this rise in Medicaid payment rates is a good or bad thing depends who you ask. Proponents say they help promote access and equity, as Medicaid payments have historically been lower than both commercial and Medicare rates. "Higher payments are expected to grow the pool of providers who serve Medicaid patients and improve access to providers that limit the number of Medicaid patients they serve. Additionally, as Medicaid becomes a more competitive payer, the policy can provide critical support to safety-net providers," the Commonwealth Fund argued in a blog post last year. But critics say the federal government is getting ripped off. Paragon is referring to such measures as "money laundering."
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Xcel reveals major investment in renewables, will meet carbon-free target 5 years early
Xcel Energy is on track to speed up its investment in renewable energy, confirming in its latest submission to regulators that it will meet Minnesota's carbon-free law five years before the 2040 deadline. The state's largest electric utility re-affirmed plans to shut down its remaining coal plants – Sherco and Allen S. King – by 2030, according to a new electricity supply plan approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The updated Upper Midwest Energy Plan includes new investments in battery energy storage systems, wind and solar power, and a natural-gas fired power plant. It also aims to extend the lives of Xcel's two carbon-free nuclear plants in Monticello and Prairie Island. The plan is expected to reduce carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 80% by 2030, with the potential of reaching up to 88%, according to the company. To achieve that, Xcel will add 3,430 more megawatts of wind energy by 2030, connecting to the Upper Midwest grid at the Sherco plant site in Becker, Minnesota using the proposed Minnesota Energy Connection transmission line. It will also add 550 megawatts of grid-scaled solar energy at the Allen S. King site in Oak Park Heights, and 900 megawatts of battery energy storage across the state. The investments will mean that renewable energy could comprise around 63% of Xcel's energy generation in the Upper Midwest, which the Star Tribune notes includes wind, solar, hydro, biomass and energy-from-waste plants. This renewable energy supply, and the removal of coal from its energy portfolio, will be supplemented by the extended life of its nuclear plants, and also a new, hydrogen-capable natural gas-fired power plant in Lyon County. The latter will "supply power during critical times while also providing grid stability for the proposed Minnesota Energy Connection transmission line." 'Our plan positions us to advance our clean energy vision by adding wind and solar resources while reinforcing the reliability of the grid with battery storage and clean natural gas,' said Ryan Long, president of Xcel Energy — Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. 'By working together with the Commission and our stakeholders, we'll meet the unprecedented growth in electricity demand in our region, invest in our communities, and maintain reliable and resilient service for our customers.' Xcel says it will aim to keep costs low for customers by "unlocking federal tax credit savings for clean energy generation and energy storage. The updated plan follows consultation with state departments, environmental groups and developers, with Xcel saying its new plan will mean lower bill increases from customers compared to its previous plan, which included the construction of an additional gas plant in Minnesota that has since been removed. The proposal has been welcomed by a group of clean energy organizations in Minnesota, with Peder Mewis, of the Clean Grid Alliance, saying: "We are extremely pleased to see the amount of wind, solar, and battery storage in Xcel's Integrated Resource Plan. "Even as Xcel Energy anticipates a dramatic increase in demand from data centers and AI, they are demonstrating an ongoing commitment to clean energy and keeping costs as low as possible for their customers by choosing clean, affordable, and reliable energy sources. Well done." BMTN Note: Weather events in isolation can't always be pinned on climate change, but the broader trend of increasingly severe weather and record-breaking extremes seen in Minnesota and across the globe can be attributed directly to the rapidly warming climate caused by human activity. The IPCC has warned that Earth is "firmly on track toward an unlivable world," and says greenhouse gas emissions must be halved by 2030 in order to limit warming to 1.5C, which would prevent the most catastrophic effects on humankind. You can read more here.
