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CMS Issues Final Rule Implementing H.R. 1’s Prohibition of Certain Uniformity Waiver Provider Taxes
On January 29, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule implementing the H.R. 1 provision prohibiting certain “uniformity waiver” provider taxes that states use to support their Medicaid programs. (The rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on February 2, 2026). Nearly all states use taxes…
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CMS Quietly Releases Medicaid State Improper Payment Rates for 2025: How Did Minnesota Do?
With little fanfare, CMS earlier this month released a Fact Sheet on improper payments in Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and the Marketplaces in 2025. With even less fanfare, CMS this week posted Medicaid improper payment rates for 17 states, including Minnesota. To its credit, CMS did not conflate Medicaid improper payments with fraud against Medicaid. In the…
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Medicaid Data Sharing Crisis: Will HHS Break the Law to Help ICE?
When people share information with a health care program, they very reasonably expect their personal information will be used for their health care, and otherwise kept private. However, recent moves by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Medicaid threaten to violate this trust – and quite possibly a judicial order – to…
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Maximizing the Use of Self-Help Resources Should Be a Priority as HR 1 Policies Are Implemented
As the 41 states that expanded Medicaid to low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act, approach the implementation of H.R. 1’s federally mandated semi-annual renewals, we thought it would be helpful to review how states handled the daunting task of outreach during the unwinding of the pandemic-era Medicaid continuous coverage provision. During the unwinding, we…
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State Title V Programs Should Invest More in Maternal and Infant Health and Wellbeing
A recently released report, The Role of the Title V MCH Services Block Grant in Improving Maternal and Infant Health, examines the fiscal investments for pregnant women and infants made by Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant programs in the 59 states and territories. Co-authored by Arden Handler, myself, and Nautica…