2009
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Key Medicaid, CHIP, and Low-Income Provisions in the Final Senate Health Reform Bill: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
This fact sheet provides a description of the key Medicaid, CHIP, and low-income provisions in the health reform bill approved by the Senate on December 24, 2009.
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2009 Comes to a Close With Chances for Health Reform Looking Good
This morning the Senate passed its version of the health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As we wind down the year here at CCF, comprehensive reform remains closer at hand than at any time in recent history. While the bill is far from perfect, children and their parents have an…
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The Holidays Are Looking Brighter for Nine States Earning CHIPRA Bonuses
It is indeed fitting – with the holidays focused on children and giving – that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius awarded more than $72 million in bonus payments last week to nine states for their success in enrolling low-income children in Medicaid. Like little kids during the holidays, we have awaited the announcement of these performance…
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What’s in the Manager’s Amendment for Kids?
Today on a snowy day in DC, agreement was reached on the Senate health care bill making it likely that Senator Reid has enough votes to pass the bill before Christmas. The Senator also filed his Managers Amendment to the bill. The Congressional Budget Office followed soon after with the bill’s score. Tucked between the more…
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2009 Finish Line Flash Editions
Since Finish Line was launched in 2007, 1.3 million more children have secured health care coverage bringing the uninsured rate for children to historic lows.
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Where Will All the CHIP Kids Go?
By Martha Heberlein The current health reform proposals have so many moving parts it’s been hard at times to parse out where children will land. Thankfully, Jenny Kenney and Allison Cook at the Urban Institute have provided us with some guidance. Using 2007 coverage numbers, they examine both the House and Senate bills to determine…
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The Ups and Downs of Children’s Health Coverage in 2009
Donna Cohen Ross, Outreach Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Editor’s Note: Donna Cohen Ross has been tracking state eligibility rules, enrollment and renewal procedures and cost-sharing practices in Medicaid and CHIP for more than a decade. Her much anticipated annual survey was released last week by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the…
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Children in Health Reform: Perspective from a California Leader
Wendy Lazarus, Founder and Co-President, The Children’s Partnership As the health reform debate in Congress moves further forward than it ever has before, the potential real-world impacts on children and families are becoming clearer. Even from 3,000 miles away, those of us in California – home of the nation’s largest and hugely successful CHIP program…
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Tennessee Alone In Capping Child Enrollees
Tennessee is the only state in the union that has closed its federally sponsored insurance plan for children to new enrollees, according to the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute. The state on Nov. 30 stopped taking applications for CoverKids, which is Tennessee’s version of the State Children’s Health Insurance…
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New Deal on a Public Option — Implications for Children and Families??
By Jocelyn Guyer Details are starting to emerge on what is in the new Senate deal on a public option, but we’re still trying to figure out what it means for low-income children and families. So far, we know it does not include a Medicaid expansion to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, which…
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WI Moves Forward on Covering ALL Kids
Remember CHIPRA? Wisconsin does and it’s putting it to use to get closer to its goal of providing affordable health coverage options to ALL kids. CHIPRA, signed into law in February, provided states with the ability to cover lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women without a five-year waiting period. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has…
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Key Medicaid, CHIP, and Low-Income Provisions in the Merged Senate Bill: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
This fact sheet provides a description of the key Medicaid, CHIP, and low-income provisions in the merged health reform bill released by the Senate on November 18, 2009.
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Children and Families in Senate Health Reform Bill
While not as riveting as the latest gossip on the White House “party crashers,” the Senate began debate this week on its health reform bill. We have developed a fact sheet of the bill’s key Medicaid, CHIP, and low-income provisions to help you navigate and understand where things stand for children and families. Over the…
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Affordability & Seamless Enrollment System – Keys to Success In Mass Health Program
An Interview with Brian Rosman, Research Director of Health Care For All in Massachusetts. The success Massachusetts had in creating affordable, accessible, quality health coverage options for all residents of the Commonwealth has helped lead the way for national health reform. Now that we’re getting beyond the larger conceptual phase of health reform and getting…
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It’s Jocelyn Guyer, Live from CCF
By Jocelyn Guyer For a change of pace, I thought I would post a video blog entry. No, my intent is not to see whether Jocelyn had a good hair day or not, it’s to see if a video can help jumpstart a dialogue better than written blog entries. (We haven’t inspired many of you…
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For Public, Affordability A Key Issue In Health Bill
Lawmakers debating health care on Capitol Hill have spent months worrying about the potential cost. But mostly it’s been the total cost of the bill, not how much individual families who could soon be required to buy insurance for the first time might have to pay. That could be a costly miscalculation, says health economist…
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What About Those Uninsured Kids? How Many Are Eligible for Medicaid or CHIP?
By Martha Heberlein Medicaid, and it’s companion program, CHIP have had amazing success in reducing the number of uninsured children over the years. The recent Census numbers highlight this fact – in 2008, the number of uninsured children was at its lowest in 20 years, due in large part to public programs filling in the…
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Senate Health Reform Bill’s Medicaid and CHIP Provisions
The Senate bill is finally out, and Majority Leader Reid is looking to get through a cloture vote on Saturday. The key parts of the bill that we’ve been tracking haven’t changed too much from the Senate Finance version. One change of note, the implementation date for the coverage pieces in the bill was moved…
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New CMS CHIPRA Guidance Coming – Straight from the Source
By Joe Touschner As we all follow the twists and turns of health care reform in Congress, it’s easy to forget that the critical children’s health legislation that’s already been passed this year–CHIPRA–is well on its way to being implemented. CMS Medicaid and State Operations Director Cindy Mann (CCF’s former fearless leader) took the time…
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Survey Finds Families are Cutting Back Spending to Pay Health Care Expenses; More Concerned about Family Pocketbook than Federal Purse
Families still reeling from the recession, feeling pessimistic about the future, and many of them struggling to cut back spending in order to cover health expenses – that is the portrait painted by the recent survey CCF conducted with Lake Research Partners. This is worrisome news for the fragile economic recovery with so many families…