2010
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Medicaid and CHIP Don’t Exclude Sick Kids
As states continue to grapple with insurance companies ceasing to write child-only insurance policies now that they are required to cover kids with pre-existing conditions, we are reminded of one simple fact – Medicaid and CHIP don’t exclude sick kids. These cost-effective public programs have long been a lifeline for low-income children, and for children…
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A Champion Fills a Critical Role at CMS
By Shelby Gonzales Center on Budget and Policy Priorities In 2008, Linda Nablo was recognized as a Child Health Champion for her relentless work to improve children’s health coverage programs in Virginia. Having known Linda for many years, I couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of this honor. As you can imagine, I was quite thrilled to…
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Another Tool in Our Data Belt
By Martha Heberlein Earlier today, the Census Bureau released health coverage estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS). The results look very similar to what was reported a few weeks ago from the Current Population Survey (CPS). Overall, since 2008, the percentage of the uninsured increased, as did the percentage of those in poverty. The…
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Kansas Tackles Backlog with Commonsense Solutions to Improve Efficiency
By Suzanne Wikle of Kansas Action for Children At a time when I can pay my bills using an Iphone or Blackbery, it seems a no-brainer that states should be pursuing more technological fixes to simplify and streamline processes to ensuring that families are able to access health insurance through Healthwave, Kansas’ Medicaid and Children’s Health…
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MomsRising Receives Overwhelming Response to Invitation to Share Thoughts on ACA
In honor of the six-month anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, our friends at MomsRising invited moms, dads, grandparents, bloggers, community leaders, government officials, policy experts and others to share their thoughts and feelings about health reform. They received an overwhelming response to their invitation. Here are a few of the many interesting blog entries: Kerri Marrone…
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ACA September 23rd Reforms Will Make Insurance Work Better for Children and Families
Today marks the six-month anniversary of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is also the date that some of the new law’s insurance reforms go into effect to help make insurance work better for families and children. Those improvements include: Prohibiting most insurers from limiting benefits or denying coverage…
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Choosing Your Own Doctor – New Protections for Children and Adults
By Joe Touschner Finding the right health care professional to provide primary care can be a challenge–we’re all looking for the right balance of expertise, compassion, communication skills, and availability. So no one likes it when an insurance company steps in to limit our choice when it comes to picking an available primary care provider. …
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In Sickness and in Health: Are Insurers Breaking their Vow to Cover Kids with Pre-existing Conditions?
The wedding date for most provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may be January 1, 2014 but we’re celebrating the engagement tomorrow, September 23, 2010, when a number of insurance market reforms go into effect for new plans. These early wins for children and families include the end of insurance industry discrimination against children with…
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Statement on Insurance Companies’ Decision to Drop Child-Only Coverage
(Washington, D.C.) – Georgetown University Center for Children and Families Co-Director, Jocelyn Guyer, issued the following statement in response to the decision by several prominent insurance companies to drop child-only plans. “The recent decision by several large insurance companies to eliminate child-only policies on the individual market to avoid having to offer coverage to children…
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Kaiser Video Explains Affordable Care Act
Six months after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law, most people still don’t know what’s in it, according to a recent Associated Press Poll. For those of you feeling frustrated by the fact that the public still doesn’t seem to understand the new law despite your best efforts, take heart in…
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September 23 Health Care Reforms: Making Insurance Work for Children and Families
September 23rd marks the six-month anniversary of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). It also ushers in a new set of insurance reforms that will enable more children and families to obtain and keep their health care coverage. This brief describes the changes as well as a number of strategies…
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Transparency in the Section 1115 Waiver Process: Proposed Reg is Released!
This is sad — I was sitting outside my daughter’s school waiting for a friend this morning avidly reading Friday’s Federal Register. For those of you who missed it, the proposed regulation implementing new transparency and public notice procedures for Section 1115 Medicaid and CHIP waivers was released on September 17th, 2010. I think my…
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Rising to the Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge
By Cathy Kaufman, Oregon Healthy Kids It was a proud day for Oregon last month when our Healthy Kids Program was hailed as a national model by U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Secretary Sebelius paid a visit to Cleveland High School in Portland to help launch a new Healthy Kids Sports Campaign,…
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Statement from the Georgetown Center for Children and Families on the release of Current Population Survey Data
(Washington, D.C.) – Georgetown University Center for Children and Families Co-Director Joan Alker issued the following statement in response to the release of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States (2009) report: “The U.S. Census data released today provide a glimpse of the toll the recession has taken…
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Census Paints Bleak Portrait of Poverty & Lack of Insurance
The portrait revealed by the data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau was bleak, underscoring the extraordinary toll the nation’s economic downturn took on families in 2009. A record number of people are now living in poverty and the nation’s uninsurance rate is at the highest level since the Census started tracking it in…
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New Grant Opportunity for States to Work on Streamlining and Coordinating Programs Including Medicaid and CHIP
A new opportunity for states to further their efforts in streamlining and coordinating public benefit programs has been announced by the Ford Foundation and its partners, the Urban Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Work Support Strategies: Streamlining Access, Strengthening Families” aims to provide a select group of states with the opportunity…
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Big Stakes for Health Reform in Tomorrow’s Senate Vote
By Edwin Parks, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities The Senate will vote tomorrow on an amendment to small business legislation that would seriously weaken an essential element of the new health reform law — the requirement that individuals obtain health insurance or pay a penalty — and eliminate preventive care funding aimed at reducing…
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RIte Care and Rhode Island’s Family Resource Counselor Program Highlighted as National Models
By Elizabeth Burke Bryant, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT Rhode Island was proud to be one of three states highlighted in a video at Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge event on September 3, 2010. Rhode Island’s successful RIte Care health insurance program and our Family Resource Counselor program were both featured as models…
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Many Patient’s Bill of Rights Provisions Go Into Effect on September 23rd
September 23rd will mark the six-month milestone for the Affordable Care Act and several provisions impacting children and families will go into effect on that date including provisions in the “Patient’s Bill of Rights” which: Prohibit employer or new individual health plans from excluding coverage of specific benefits associated with a pre-existing condition for any…
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CK2C Event Inspires Action in States
By Ann Bacharach, Pennsylvania Law Project and National Covering Kids and Families Network I took a break from my stay-cation this week to get motivated for the fall. On behalf of the National Covering Kids and Families Network, I took the early morning train from Philadelphia to Washington on Friday to attend the re-launch of…