2011
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More Eligible Kids are Enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP
By Martha Heberlein Maybe it’s the famine in Somalia, the ever-fluctuating stock market, the riots in London, the ongoing deficit and debt talks, but I’m in some serious need of good news. Thanks to Jenny Kenney and her colleagues at the Urban Institute, we’ve got some – participation in Medicaid and CHIP has gone up!…
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Winners and Losers in State Budget Debates
By Tara Mancini I recently blogged about the way Medicaid has been affected in state budgets and concluded that while the program may incur more cuts, the future outlook is somewhat hopeful due to expected decreases in enrollment and rebounding state revenues. However, an in depth analysis on state budget cuts by the Center on…
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Proposed Rules Fast-track State Efforts in Streamlining and Coordinating Coverage for Children and Families under the ACA
Successful state strategies in streamlining eligibility and coordinating enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP are the heart and soul of the latest round of proposed regulations issued for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While we’re still wading through the three sets of proposed rules released today by CMS, it’s clear that these regulations take a number…
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New Guidance from CMS Accelerates Successful State Strategies in Streamlining and Coordinating Coverage for Children and Families Through Medicaid and the Exchange
Statement by Tricia Brooks, Assistant Research Professor, Georgetown Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families on August 12, 2011: “The Administration today released a set of Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) relating to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, including new regulations for streamlining eligibility and coordinating enrollment in Medicaid and the Exchange.…
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CMS Offers a Sweeter Deal in Trading Up Integrated Eligibility Systems
Even if you tend to gloss over my technology blogs, please keep reading because this is really BIG news for the states. Yesterday, CMS announced that, for a limited time, it is waiving the requirement that the cost to replace or improve integrated eligibility systems be allocated across programs (at each program’s matching rate). Let’s…
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Health Reform is Working – Proof is in the Family Stories
By Jeff Tieman, Catholic Health Association Bryce Dixon, a 24-year old dairy farmer in Cosby, Missouri near the Kansas border, suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that primarily affects the spine. This condition causes debilitating swelling of the joints and feet, as well as autoimmune deficiencies. Bryce requires twice monthly injections of a…
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Just Getting Started…
By Jocelyn Guyer As more details emerge on the debt ceiling deal, one thing is becoming more and more clear – we are just getting started. In the months and years ahead, we can expect to see a continuation of the deeply ideological debate over the role of government in the United States that has…
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Time Is Ripe for Advocates to Weigh In on Exchanges
By Joel Ferber, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri One of the most important ways that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will improve insurance coverage for Americans is through the development of state health insurance exchanges. So far in 2011, ten states have enacted legislation to set up a state-based exchange while eight others have passed…
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Debt-Ceiling Compromise Kicks Medicaid Fight Down the Road
By Katherine Howitt, Community Catalyst Yesterday, the president signed a bill that ended months of intense negotiations over lifting the country’s debt-ceiling. But for the fate of Medicaid – and the millions of seniors, people living with disabilities, and low-income children who rely on the program – the negotiations are just beginning. What’s the deal? In…
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National Children’s Groups Express Concerns About Utah’s Waiver Request
By Joe Touschner We’ve pointed out the flaws in Utah’s request for a Medicaid waiver in a previous blog post But we wanted to call your attention to them once again since today we submitted a letter to federal officials voicing the concerns of many national groups. Thanks to all of you who joined us in…
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National Groups Urge the Obama Administration to Reject Utah Request to Cut Health Coverage for Children While Dramatically Increasing Costs to Families
Today, a group of 18 national children’s advocacy, provider, and health advocacy groups joined together to voice their deep concern to the Obama administration about Utah’s recent request to cut children’s health care and to dramatically increase the cost of care for their families. The group urged Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to…
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Converting to MAGI, What Does It Really Mean for Kids?
One of the more mystical sounding acronyms receiving a lot of attention in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is MAGI or Modified Adjusted Gross Income. MAGI is a way of defining income rooted in tax law and, along with the size of the tax filing unit (to determine household size), will be used to evaluate…
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GAO Looks At Access to Care for Children Covered by Medicaid & CHIP
By Wesley Prater The GAO recently released a report on access to care for children covered by Medicaid and CHIP. The researchers surveyed specialty care physicians and rural and urban area primary care physicians to examine Medicaid and CHIP enrolled children’s access to both primary and specialty care. The GAO report, required under CHIPRA, also looked…
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Utah’s Waiver Proposal–Join Us in Speaking Up for Kids
By Joe Touschner Like many states, Utah has been working to redesign its Medicaid program in an effort to contain costs–the state submitted a Section 1115 demonstration waiver application to CMS earlier this month. As my colleague Joan Alker has blogged about in the past, waivers are often adopted with little public transparency even though…
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First Focus Calls for Greater Investment in Children at Children’s Budget Summit
(Editor’s Note: This week, more than 300 children’s advocates, White House staff, Members of Congress, and researchers gathered for the third national Children’s Budget Summit hosted by First Focus. The summit drew attention to the overall declining share of the federal budget dedicated to programs that benefit children, at a time when children need support more…
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Some Good News in a Tough Year: Oregon’s Child Un-Insurance Rate Cut in Half
By Robin Christian, Children First for Oregon In this time of economic uncertainty and political division, last week brought us some welcome good news in Oregon. According to the Oregon Health Authority, the number of uninsured children has dropped dramatically in less than two years – from 11.3% to 5.6% – thanks to the affordable,…
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Keeping on Track: California Continues to Move Forward on Health Insurance Exchange
(Editor’s Note: In an effort to keep our readers up to speed on what’s happening on the development of state-based health insurance exchanges, we are checking in periodically with states that are moving forward. This month, we visit our friends in sunny California.) By Nicette Short (Children Now) and Kathleen Hamilton (The Children’s Partnership) on…
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When Can States Impose Copayments for Non-Emergency Use of ERs?
By Wesley Prater We have been hearing that more states are looking to use copayments to deter non-emergency use of the emergency room for low-income families, so it’s probably a good idea to discuss what the federal rules are and how some states have already been dealing with this issue. In an effort to try…
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They Got it Right — Finally
By Martha Heberlein The last time you heard from me on state budgets, I was on my soapbox about how the NASBO numbers are frequently taken out of context. For those of you who have missed my ongoing exasperation, here’s a quick recap. When citing statistics about Medicaid in state budgets, it is often misleadingly…
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Medicaid has Responded Successfully to Economic Downturn
By Tara Mancini As our readers know, Medicaid is a public insurance program financed jointly by states and the federal government to assist low-income individuals and families in obtaining health insurance. Using state specific formulas known as FMAP, the federal government provides at least $1 in matching funds for every $1 spent by states. During…