2011
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Obama Offers More Balanced Deficit Reduction Plan
“I will preserve these health care programs as a promise we make to each other in this society. I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who…
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90/10 Rule is Final: Time to Upgrade to a More Reliable & Efficient Model
Remember driving an older model car that generally got you from point A to point B but not without stalling at a traffic light or having the heater cut out in the dead of winter? That‘s a bit like the old, tired legacy systems currently being used to determine eligibility for Medicaid (and other programs)…
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Transparency in Medicaid/CHIP Waivers is Urgent
Today 34 national groups sent a letter to Secretary Sibelius asking her to finalize the Section 1115 Medicaid and CHIP public process waiver regulations as soon as possible. As the letter notes, state Medicaid waiver activity is a hot topic these days. The Secretary and her colleagues at the U.S. Department of Health and Human…
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What If Ryan’s Medicaid Block Grant Were Already in Effect?
By Edwin Park, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities The Congressional Budget Office has found that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal to block-grant Medicaid would significantly shift costs to states, beneficiaries, and health care providers. To help illustrate how states would likely fare under the proposal over time, the Center on Budget and…
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Tapping Medicaid Performance Funds – No Need to Worry
By Jocelyn Guyer Today, we finally saw details of the continuing resolution to fund the federal government through the end of fiscal year 2011. One item that jumped out at us is a proposal to take $3.5 billion of the money that had been set aside for “performance bonuses” to reward states for enrolling kids…
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Guidance Issued on CHIP Eligibility for Children of State Employees
For years federal funding was not available to states to enroll eligible children of state employees in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). It was assumed that state employees had access to affordable, comprehensive insurance but, over time, that myth has been dispelled. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) sought to remedy this but it took…
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Medicaid Block Grant Proposal Would Impact Pregnant Women
By Amanda Jezek, March of Dimes House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s recently released 2012 budget resolution was passed by the committee and is expected to be considered by the full House of Representatives this week. It includes a proposal to convert the federal share of the Medicaid program into capped block grants to states.…
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The Ryan Budget Resolution – Implications for Children’s Coverage
By Jocelyn Guyer Yesterday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released a lopsided budget plan that harms the most vulnerable and protects the most secure. It would radically alter Medicaid and shift costs to the states by changing Medicaid to a block grant and deeply slashing federal funding for the program by $771 billion…
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Using CHIPRA Bonus Payments in Advocacy
Jon Gould, Children’s Alliance While celebrating the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act last month, I couldn’t help but think how vital CHIPRA’s passage was a year before the ACA – in February 2009. With President Obama’s signature on the five-year children’s health reauthorization law came a powerful new tool in our advocacy toolbox: annual…
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Understanding Florida Medicaid Today And the Impact of Federal Health Care Reform
Sound information on Florida’s Medicaid program is especially timely because of the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which will move more low-income people into Medicaid by expanding eligibility levels in 2014. The highly politicized nature of the debate about Medicaid and health reform has lead to some exaggerated state estimates of Florida’s cost…
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Senate Approves Bill to Change ACA’s 1099 Reporting Requirements
The Senate passed H.R. 4 today to remove the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced 1099 reporting requirements. President Obama has not yet indicated whether or not he will sign the bill into law. The White House supports the bill’s goal of eliminating the enhanced reporting requirements for businesses but has expressed concerns about the offset that was included…
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As Legislators Wrestle to Define Next Generation of Florida Medicaid, Benefits of Reform Effort Are Far From Clear
Medicaid is a critical part of Florida’s health care system. It covers about 27% of the state’s children, pays for 51% of all deliveries and nearly 66% of nursing home days. In 2006, a five-year pilot program replaced traditional Medicaid with an unusual managed-care model and other features that required a Section 1115 waiver from…
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A Closer Look at Florida’s Medicaid Program
The Florida legislature is in the midst of a hot and heavy debate about the future of the state’s Medicaid program. One of the key questions being discussed is whether or not to expand the state’s controversial Section 1115 Medicaid waiver across the state and across all populations. The waiver is coming to the end…
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Cuts to Medicaid will Ultimately Hurt Business
By Jim Roche, President, Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire For years, business owners and managers have cited the rising cost of health care and health insurance as their top challenge, after the health of the economy. And for years, the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire has tried to do its part…
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Legislative Attacks on ACA Continue
There was a lot of bark but not much bite this week in Congress surrounding the Affordable Care Act. In a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, HHS Secretary Sebelius once again defended the ACA against attacks from opponents, including one who was concerned that it was “too popular”. Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) reassured the Secretary of…
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Arkansas Removes Red-Tape
By Elisabeth Wright Burak, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families The Arkansas Finish Line Coalition was pleased to see Senate Bill 65 signed into law by Governor Mike Beebe Wednesday. It will ensure as many as 20,000 children eligible for ARKids First health insurance aren’t pushed out of coverage because of paperwork errors. The “Red Tape”…
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Utah and MA health exchanges: Not Opposite Sides of Coin
By Joan Alker and Sabrina Corlette, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute A sad reality of working on health care policy at the moment is the incredible politicization of the debate. This climate has the unfortunate byproduct of obstructing compromise and preventing constructive dialogue about different approaches states may take to implementing the Affordable Care Act. Along…
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NAIC Delays Vote on Removing Broker’s Commissions from MLR
There’s been lots of drama at this year’s first meeting of the NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) in Austin, TX – way more than any of us consumer representatives to the NAIC expected. The good news, as you may have heard by now, is that the NAIC decided to delay a vote to endorse…
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Senator Stands Up for Medicaid
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care. Amid the larger scuffle on budget-cutting this year, some in Congress are looking for convenient excuses to roll back programs designed to give low-income Americans a hand up in life. Proposed cuts from the House are a direct attack on working Americans –…
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Roadblocks to Coverage for Children: Implications of Procedural Cuts in Medicaid and CHIP
The number of uninsured children reached the lowest level on record in 2008 and 2009. The success in covering children is attributed to expanding eligibility and simplifying application and renewal procedures in Medicaid/CHIP. Stability in the programs is a result of the short-term fiscal relief provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and…