2012
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What’s the Score? CBO’s Updated Baseline Released
By Martha Heberlein I don’t know what you did yesterday, but I spent the day eagerly awaiting CBO’s annual March baseline. As the “official scorekeepers” in Washington, their projections of spending and enrollment in Medicaid, CHIP, and coverage under the exchanges carry a lot of weight. Besides, who wouldn’t love the neat little tables they produce…
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Covering Kids & Families Reports and Evaluations
Numerous reports and evaluations were conducted during and after the Covering Kids and Families grant project, all of which are available on the Robert Wood Johnson website. Below are some of the reports NCKF members may find interesting and helpful to their work. Covering Kids & Families Evaluation: A Continuing Program for Increasing Insurance Coverage…
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Medical Bills – A Strain to Many Families
By Martha Heberlein Many families are struggling with medical debt. During the first 6 months of 2011, one in three people was living in a family experiencing a financial burden due to medical care, such as having medical bills that they are unable to pay, according to data released by the CDC. The chances of facing…
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HHS Releases Final Exchange Rules
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a set of final rules on Affordable Insurance Exchanges. This set of rules generated quite a lot of interest from stakeholders as more than 24,000 comments were submitted to HHS. Some of the rules announced this week are in interim final status, meaning HHS will…
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MetroHealth Wants to Create Medicaid Subsidy Program for Uninsured
The Plain Dealer March 11, 2012 By Sarah Jane Tribble CLEVELAND, Ohio — The MetroHealth System hopes to use $72 million in subsidies from Cuyahoga County taxpayers over the next two years to reduce the region’s uninsured by record numbers. The safety-net health system, with help from state regulators, recently submitted a proposal to the U.S. Centers for…
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HHS Releases Report on ACA’s Lifetime Limit Provision
Twenty-eight million children no longer have to face lifetime caps imposed on their health insurance benefits thanks to the Affordable Care Act, according to an issue brief released this week by the Department of Health and Human Services. Our research has shown that lifetime caps on insurance benefits are a major concern for families with…
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A Double Benefit – More Kids Enrolled and Administrative Savings
We have long been fans of the enormous success that Louisiana has had in improving retention among children in Medicaid and CHIP through administrative renewals and ex parte. I mean, really, who wouldn’t be wowed by the fact that just 1% of children lose coverage at renewal for procedural reasons! Not to mention the low, low…
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Continuous Coverage – Critical for Chronic Conditions
By Tara Mancini Our Say Ahhh! audience is certainly aware of the benefits of implementing continuous coverage, namely, how it can improve health outcomes for beneficiaries while also decreasing administrative and utilization costs. As of January 1, 2012, 28 states offer 12-month continuous eligibility in their CHIP programs (23 in Medicaid). Alabama is one of…
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Brownback Medicaid Plan Drawing Concern from Experts
Kansas Public Radio March 6, 2012 One of the goals of Governor Sam Brownback’s plan to overhaul Medicaid is to save money. As Jim McLean of the KHI News Service reports, that has experts urging caution. Listen to Broadcast Here
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Brownback Medicaid Makeover an “Ambitious” Plan
Kansas Health Institute March 5, 2012 By Mike Shields TOPEKA — Experts on the nation’s Medicaid program say that Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan to remake the state’s system for delivering health care to the poor, elderly and disabled is among the most far-reaching in the United States. And it faces an uncertain likelihood of gaining…
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Panelists: Take Medicaid Concerns to Legislators, Feds
The Topeka Capital-Journal March 5, 2012 By Andy Marso A four-person panel of health care policy experts told providers and advocates Monday it might be time to take their concerns about Gov. Sam Brownback’s managed care Medicaid plan to the Legislature or the federal government. Several in the audience at the Topeka and Shawnee County…
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New Tools to Enhance Your Outreach Efforts
October 25, 2010 Included in this webinar is a presentation by Jenny Kenney at the Urban Institute about the chartbook they developed with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation about their new research on eligible but unenrolled children. There are two additional presentations about how to reach uninsured children- one from Alison Betty…
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Let’s Not Forget About CHIPRA!
February 8, 2011 This webinar included a presentation about the new options states have to improve and expand coverage for children through Medicaid and CHIP through CHIPRA. Special attention was paid to how a state could earn performance bonus dollars for making significant improvements to its Medicaid enrollment through cutting red tape in its CHIP…
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Simplification: What’s Working in Getting and Keeping Children Covered?
May 17, 2011 This webinar focused on the simplification strategies available to states to get and keep children covered. We learned more about the national picture and which states have adopted various strategies, some of the successes and some of the lessons learned. Speakers from Alabama and Iowa presented on specific strategies that they have…
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Politics and Policy in Washington: Potential Impacts on Enrollment, Simplification and Coordination of Children’s Coverage
September 13, 2011 As Washington does what it does best – play politics and propose policy – what impacts will there be on children’s coverage? Recent proposed regulations on eligibility and enrollment in Medicaid, CHIP and the Exchanges have significant implications for outreach, simplification and coordination of children’s coverage as we approach 2014. All the…
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Friday, Mar. 3: Children’s Health
Mississippi Public Broadcasting March 3, 2012 How will the coming changes in Mississippi’s health care system affect your children? Wesley Prater, a senior health analyst at Georgetown University, explains how the Obama health care bill will provide coverage for more kids. In 2014, more than half of Mississippi’s children will be able to get health…
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Half of All Mississippi Kids Could Soon Be on Medicaid or CHIP
Mississippi Public Broadcasting March 1, 2012 By Jeffrey Hess New research shows that the recent health care overhaul could mean a growing number of Mississippi kids will get their health insurance through the government. MPB’s Jeffrey Hess reports child welfare advocates see the expansion as good news for the health of Mississippi’s youngest residents. When the…
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Ohio Still Must Set Up Federally Mandated Health Exchanges
Dayton Daily News March 1, 2012 Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer COLUMBUS — Deadlines loom for Ohio and other states to set up federally mandated health exchanges, intensifying debate over whether taking action or waiting for information carries the higher price tag. Health-insurance exchanges — in effect, marketplaces set up in which lower-income Ohioans and small…
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HHS Gives States an Extension on Exchange Establishment Funding Requests
“Be careful what you wish for” is the adage that came to mind when HHS announced it planned to extend the final deadline for applying for Level II exchange establishment funding from June 29, 2012 to November 3, 2014. The announcement published in the federal register today proposed to set the rolling deadline for Level…