2012
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Sequestration Replacement Cuts Could Unravel the Country’s Success in Covering Children
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, charged with finding offsets to avoid reductions to defense spending, has passed a package of cuts totaling $113 billion. The package includes the elimination of two provisions that have helped to drive down the number of uninsured children to the lowest level on record: 1) repeal of the stability…
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Georgetown University Report Finds Sequestration Replacement Bill Would Undermine Success in Helping Uninsured Kids
WASHINGTON, DC — Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families released an analysis of the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act and its impact on children in need of affordable health care coverage. “The measure would weaken the cost-effective Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program that have worked so successfully to help uninsured children,” said Jocelyn Guyer,…
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House Passes Sequester Replacement Bill – Could Impact Kids Health Care
By Jocelyn Guyer Today the House of Representatives passed the “Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act”. As we’ve mentioned before, the Senate is not planning to take up the measure and the Administration has issued a veto threat should the lopsided measure reach the President’s desk. Despite those assurances, it is worth looking into the measure as…
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Public comment on KanCare plan expected to begin this week
Kansas Health Institute May 9, 2012 By Dave Ramney KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Officials with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services say they expect to post Kansas’ new Medicaid waiver application on its website later this week. That will launch a 30-day public comment period on the proposal submitted by the administration of Gov.…
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House Budget Committee Reports Out Bill to Eliminate MOE & CHIPRA Bonus
By Jocelyn Guyer In an effort to circumvent the bipartisan debt ceiling agreement reached last year, the House Budget Committee passed a measure Monday that, if enacted, would undermine the success our nation has achieved in driving the uninsured rate for children down to a record low. (It has numerous other issues as well, and…
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Medicaid Primary Care Services Get An Overdue Raise
Primary care is one of our best buys in health care because of its proven effectiveness in improving health outcomes and avoiding more costly health services. This is particularly true for children as they move through different phases of development, and people with chronic health conditions. But it’s also a well-known fact that primary care…
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Wisconsin’s 1115 Waiver Approved – Bad News/Good News
By Wesley Prater Medicaid waivers have been a very hot topic lately! Just take a look at my colleague Joan Alker’s blog on recent action around waivers. You may have heard that CMS recently approved Wisconsin’s 1115 waiver for the state’s BadgerCare program. Most of the changes will affect adults with incomes over 133% of the…
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Have You Thanked a Nurse Lately?
I’m really bad at keeping up with all these national days, weeks and months of recognition. I somehow missed the opportunity to indulge on National Potato Chip Day (March 14). I didn’t even notice that Ohio Governor Kasich signed a proclamation earlier this year designating February 6 as National Pork Rind Day. But today I…
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Packard Releases New Report on Impact of Children’s Health Care Advocacy
By Gene Lewit and Liane Wong, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Those of you who are regular Say Ahhh! readers know that more children have health insurance coverage today than at any point in the nation’s history. The steady growth in children’s health coverage did not happen in a vacuum. State and…
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Waiver Frenzy
Interesting events have kept Medicaid waiver watchers very busy in the last week. On Friday April 27th final regulations creating new requirements for state and federal public process to allow for public input when Medicaid waivers are developed and considered went into effect. A summary I did with Samantha Artiga at Kaiser Commission on Medicaid…
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FL passed up $200M for uninsured kids
Health News Florida May 4, 2012 By Carol Gentry Over the past two years, Florida did such a good job of enrolling uninsured children in KidCare that the state could have qualified for as much as $200 million in federal bonuses – money that could have helped get more children into care. But the state…
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Republicans Seek To Cut Funding For Program That Has Insured An Extra 1.1 Million Children
Think Progress May 3, 2012 By Guest Blogger Last week, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to slash $400 million from a program that would offer states performance bonuses if they enrolled more children in CHIP or Medicaid. Twenty-three states have already taken advantage of those bonuses, including 16 that increased their…
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89,000 Pennsylvania Children Lose Medicaid Due to Shortsighted Policies & Bureaucratic Backlogs
By George Hoover, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children Having dedicated my career to making health care coverage accessible to all Pennsylvanians, I am dismayed over recent actions by the state that are jeopardizing health care access for children. The number of Pennsylvania children covered through Medicaid has plummeted by about 89,000 in recent months, including many…
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Where Would 1.1 Million Kids Be Without the CHIPRA Performance Bonus?
By Martha Heberlein When CHIP was reauthorized in 2009, the Performance Bonus was designed to reward states for enrolling more Medicaid-eligible children. As my colleague, Jocelyn Guyer, pointed out on Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted last week to eliminate these bonuses. While this raises questions of whether the Committee supports the intention of connecting…
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Florida considering new Medicaid system
Examiner April 30, 2012 By Armand Colson Medicaid is the largest health program in the United States in terms of number of recipients, serving approximately 56 million people. Enacted in 1964 under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, Medicaid provides medical services to low income and disabled persons. Florida is considering legislation to move…
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Finish Line Conference 2010
Since Finish Line was launched in 2007, 1.3 million more children have secured health care coverage bringing the uninsured rate for children to historic lows.
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Low Income Kids will be Hit Hardest if Effort to Raid CHIPRA Performance Bonuses Succeeds
By Jocelyn Guyer In my house, I have a general policy for my three boys that they can’t use the words “stupid” and “dumb” unless they are truly warranted (e.g., you can’t call your brother stupid for forgetting the napkins when setting the table, but, I let it go when they decided that Anthony Weiner…
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Affordable Care Act: Legislation, Regulation and Guidance
Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families contributes an independent voice to the dialogue on how to most effectively make the promise of the Affordable Care Act a reality for children and families.
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Medicaid and CHIP Waiver Transparency Rules Take Effect Today: CMS Unveils New Waiver Website
As regular readers of Say Ahhh! know, CMS has issued final regulations on public input and transparency with respect to Section 1115 Medicaid and CHIP waivers. These rules have been a loooong time coming and much needed since 1115 waivers can be very consequential. And today, April 27th, 2012, the rules become effective. My last…