2011
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Setting the Record Straight: Medicaid Is Cost Effective
(Editor’s Note: This blog originally appeared as an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune in response to statements made at the Senate Finance Committee field hearing on Medicaid held in Salt Lake City this week.) By Lincoln Nehring, Voices for Utah Children For nearly 50 years Medicaid has provided cost-effective, high-quality health coverage to Utah’s…
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Medicaid and its Role for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN): A Family Perspective
The nation’s children have a lot at stake in the ongoing federal and state level debates over Medicaid’s role in deficit reduction efforts. Children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) are most vulnerable to Medicaid cuts because so many rely on it. Approximately 14% (10.2 million) of children meet the criteria of having…
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Children with Special Health Care Needs Have Much at Stake in Budget Talks
One in three children with special health care needs relies on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), according to a report released today by Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families. The research project, conducted in partnership with Family Voices, found that children and youth with special health care needs…
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Children in the Dawn and Shadows of Life Should be a Top Priority in Budget Talks
“It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” …
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HHS Proposes Initial Exchange Rules
By Joe Touschner Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, we’ve known that state exchanges are a big part of the vision for reforming and expanding health coverage. Although that vision may have started about a bit hazy, it’s coming into sharper focus. State policymakers have been passing laws and taking other action to…
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Medicaid is Very Good for Your Health
As we all engage in defense of the Medicaid program at the state and federal levels, a new study confirms how vital these efforts are. A star-studded team of economists from MIT and Harvard, including advisors to Presidents Obama and Bush, conducted what is likely to become the gold standard for research with respect to…
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Children’s Health Will Pay the Price If Federal Costs Are Shifted to the States
By Kristen Golden Testa, The Children’s Partnership and 100% Campaign As policy makers in Washington DC work to reduce the federal budget deficit, we should all be watching carefully where the budget ax swings, especially when it nears our children. Luckily, California is raising the red flag when proposed federal cuts result in more state…
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Medicaid Helps People in Times of Need Following Natural Disasters
and Wesley Prater Natural disasters such as the tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri and the flooding that affected residents of several states along the Mississippi river, serve as stark reminders of the important role the federal government plays in helping states respond to such events. Health care is one of the most pressing needs victims of…
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New Resources on Medicaid Managed Care
By Martha Heberlein States may choose to adopt managed care in Medicaid for a number of reasons. For example, they may be interested in improving care management and coordination. Others may wish to gain more predictability in spending or increase accountability for access to providers and quality of care. No matter what the reason (or…
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Appeals Court Rules Affordable Care Act Constitutional
This week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Affordable Care Act as constitutional (including the key individual responsibility provision) infusing a large dose of rational thinking into the highly polarized world that surrounds the health reform law. In fact, the majority opinion used the word “rational” several times in rejecting the challenge by…
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Blended Match Rate Proposal Raises Red Flags
By Jocelyn Guyer Last week just as Representative Cantor was making his dramatic exit from deficit reduction talks with Vice President Biden, rumors started to emerge that the idea of adopting a “blended matching rate” for Medicaid and CHIP was gaining currency. The Obama Administration first put forth the idea in a deficit reduction proposal…
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KidsWell Campaign Launches Online Resource for Health Reform Implementation
By Kimberley Chin, Programme Executive, Atlantic Philanthropies State advocates face enormous challenges–shrinking resources, entrenched politics, an often disinterested press. Yet somehow, we manage to get it done.Just about every major federal policy initiative begins and ends at the state.It was the states that conceived of what became CHIP, launched the first health benefit exchanges with…
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Saving Money, Saving Lives: Maryland Paves the Way on Payment Reform
As policymakers across the country look to balance their budgets, some are turning to Medicaid, recycling the same harmful policies they’ve used year-after-year: eliminating coverage for vulnerable Americans, restricting critical benefits like prescription drug coverage, imposing premiums on those who can’t afford them, and slashing already-low provider reimbursement rates. Community Catalyst and Georgetown University Health…
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Senator Rockefeller Writes Against Repeal of the Stability Protections
By Jocelyn Guyer Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) sent a letter to his colleague Senator Hatch (R-UT) last week outlining his grave concerns about Hatch’s recently introduced bill to repeal the stability protections (“or maintenance-of-effort requirement”) in Medicaid and CHIP. The letter — the latest in a series of Rockefeller efforts to protect health programs for low-income people…
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A Disappointing Rollback of Consumer Protections on Appeals
Imagine you’re a parent and your child has been diagnosed with cancer and is going through painful, debilitating treatment. You can imagine the sleepless nights, the worry, the exhaustion, the fear. Now imagine that your insurance company denies some of the claims for your child’s treatment – treatment that the doctors assure you are essential…
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Finance Committee Holds Hearing on Medicaid and Medicare
By Martha Heberlein As negotiations stalled on addressing the debt ceiling and ongoing budget deficits, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing today on the long-term sustainability of Medicare and Medicaid. While much of the focus was on Medicare, Medicaid also played a prominent role, especially around proposals to block grant the program. In response…
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Study Highlights Importance of Improved Medicaid Program
By John Bouman, Sargent Shriver Center on Poverty Law On June 17, Dr. Karin Rhodes and her colleague Joanna Bisgaier of the University of Pennsylvania released a report on access to subspecialty doctors by children covered by Medicaid in Cook County, Illinois. The authors also published an article about the study underlying the report in…
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Gov Hickenlooper’s Veto of Premiums is Win for CO Kids and Families.
By Elisabeth Arenelas, Colorado Center on Law and Policy Thanks to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper for his veto of a bill (Senate Bill 11-213) that would have required monthly premiums for certain children participating in Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+), Colorado’s version of the Child Health Insurance Plan. Coverage to this particular group was expanded…
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Republican Governors’ Letter Calls for More Cost-Shifting to States and Local Governments
In a letter to members of Congress outlining their guiding principles for how Medicaid should be changed in to order to address the challenges states are facing in sustaining their programs, Republican governors echoed earlier calls for block grants and more flexibility in how they run their programs along with repeal of the health care…
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Massive Declines in Enrollment Predicted Under a Medicaid Block Grant
By Martha Heberlein A recent study from the folks at the Urban Institute provides state-by-state enrollment projections under the House budget plan. I don’t think any regular Say Ahhh! readers will be surprised to learn that the news isn’t good. Under the plan, there will be a 44% reduction in federal Medicaid funds, including spending…
