2011
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A Look Back: Why ACA Was Needed From A Young Person’s Perspective
By Aaron Smith, Co-Founder of Young Invincibles As we reach the one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, it is important to remember why we fought so hard for this historic law in the first place. What was so necessary and urgent about health care reform that it compelled ordinary Americans to take up this grueling…
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Tennessee Project focuses on Enrolling and Serving Shelter Children
Eric Murray, TennCare Shelter Enrollment Coordinator More than 16,000 Tennessee children experienced homelessness in the 2005-06 school year, according to the America’s Youngest Outcasts: State Report Card on Child Homelessness, and this number has likely grown in the wake of the national economic crisis of the past several years. These children are almost twice as…
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On the Anniversary of the ACA: A Family Perspective on What It Means for Kids
By Jocelyn Guyer As communities across the nation celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, CCF marked the event in its traditional style – by issuing an issue brief. It has the facts about how the Affordable Care Act will affect children, but also stories from families whose children have personally been touched…
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For the Coverage of a Child – Coverage for Parents
By Martha Heberlein As we look ahead to full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, coverage for children has reached an all-time high, with 90% having secured coverage. Despite that good news, it still means 7.3 million remain without insurance and 65% of them are already eligible for Medicaid and CHIP but not yet enrolled. While there…
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Early Wins for Children on the One-Year Anniversary of Health Reform: Family Perspectives
March 23, 2011 marked the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). There have been early wins for children and their families, even though many of the major provisions do not go into effect until January 2014. This issue brief highlights families from across the country whose children have personally been…
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MACPAC Report Tops My “Must-Read” List
By Martha Heberlein MACPAC (the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission) issued its first mandated report to Congress on March 15th. For those who may get their acronyms muddled, MACPAC was established through CHIPRA and expanded and funded through the ACA. MACPAC (like its long-running sister commission, MedPAC, (which focuses on Medicare) provides technical assistance, policy…
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As ACA Approaches 1st Birthday, Legislative Activity Heats Up
Both the Senate Finance Committee and Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee held hearings this week on aspects of the Affordable Care Act. Here’s a quick summary of those hearings and other developments in Congress. In the Senate Finance Committee hearing, Secretary Sebelius did a good job of responding to criticism of the ACA by…
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Waiving Hello to State Innovation?
By Joe Touschner In a continued push to show that states have flexibility under the Affordable Care Act, the Departments of Health and Human Services and the Treasury this week proposed rules for states to apply for innovation waivers under section 1332 of the ACA. Under current law, states could negotiate a waiver of ACA…
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Electronic Signatures: How Do They Work for Medicaid and CHIP?
Online applications and electronic signatures promote administrative efficiency in Medicaid and CHIP. Currently, 29 states accept electronic signatures for online applications for Medicaid for children and 23 of the 38 separate state CHIP programs accept electronic signatures. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that states must establish an internet website allowing individuals to apply for,…
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E-Signatures: Hasn’t the Time Come?
Our good friend Beth Morrow at The Children’s Partnership (TCP) posted a blog last week to highlight a new issue brief on the importance of moving access to public health coverage to smart phones and other mobile devices. I’m all for it but let’s not forget we still have some catching up to do on…
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Commonwealth Survey Underscores Need to Move Forward on ACA and Hold Steady on Medicaid & CHIP
A survey released today by the Commonwealth Fund underscores the need for states to hold steady in their commitment to health insurance programs such as Medicaid and CHIP while families struggle to find solid footing in the aftermath of the recession. It also provides solid evidence that 2014 and full implementation of the Affordable Care…
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Medicaid and State Budgets: Looking at the Facts
Medicaid continues to make up a large share of state budgets, but its role is far more nuanced than is frequently portrayed. This series of fact sheets is designed to provide a short overview of the role of Medicaid in state budgets, the sources of spending, and details on how much each state spends. The…
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New Issue Brief Looks at Medicaid’s Role in State Budgets
By Martha Heberlein State budgets continue to be a hot issue. As states are grappling with depressed revenues and searching for ways to balance their budgets, some have turned to Medicaid to help fill the gap. But, as with most debates about how much things cost and how money is spent, some of the arguments don’t…
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What Conservative States Want: Health Care for Children
By Christine Sinatra, Texans Care for Children A couple of years ago in a seminar for children’s health advocates, a pollster shared some promising new national data: about 9 out of 10 voters said they support public children’s health insurance programs. Up went the hands of those of us in the room from the red…
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West Virginia to Implement CHIP Expansion
By Martha Heberlein Amid all the turmoil surrounding “flexibility” in Medicaid and ongoing state budget crises (not to mention the never-ending budget debate in DC), a move forward for children’s coverage in West Virginia has gone largely unnoticed. In 2006, the state enacted an expansion from 200% to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)…
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Health Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Mandatory Spending in Affordable Care Act
You need to look no further than the uncertainty about FY 2011 funding being hobbled together through a series of short-term continuing resolutions and threats of a government shutdown to understand why mandatory funding is necessary to create a stable funding stream for essential programs that improve the health and well-being of America’s children and…
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New Tools for New Times: Using Cell Phones to Help Families Enroll and Stay Enrolled in Health Insurance
Mobile Technology: Smart Tools to Increase Participation in Health Coverage.
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ACA Can Build Upon CHIPRA Success by Improving Maternity Care
By Amanda Jezek, March of Dimes Health reform has the potential to provide tremendous opportunities to expand health insurance coverage, but what many people do not realize is that the new law also makes significant investments designed to improve the quality of health care — particularly in Medicaid. These provisions are critical in making sure…
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The Massachusetts and Utah Health Insurance Exchanges: Lessons Learned
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires states to set-up health insurance exchanges. Once up and running, exchanges are expected to connect approximately 29 million people to coverage. Their design should help individuals and small businesses shop for and purchase health insurance, access premium and cost-sharing subsidies, and facilitate health plan competition based…
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What did the President Just Say??
On Monday, while addressing the nation’s Governors, President Obama endorsed bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Wyden, Brown and Landrieu that moves up the date that states can apply for so-called “State Innovation Waivers” from 2017 to 2014. Waivers come in many shapes and sizes and can be quite confusing. (Just watch Members of the House…