2012
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Report Sheds Light on Block Grants
We’ve heard a lot about how block-granting Medicaid will allow states more flexibility but we haven’t heard much about the potential impact such a proposal might have on low-income families. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recently issued a report that sheds light on that issue. CBPP’s report, “How States Have Spent Federal and…
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CCF and Children’s Dental Health Project Release New Pediatric Dental Benefits Brief
By Joe Touschner As Tara Mancini has observed, more and more of us in the health care world are coming to the stunning realization that the mouth is part of the body. To care for kids’ health properly, we need to give them quality, effective oral health services. The ACA recognizes this: it makes pediatric…
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State of the States: California and Colorado Identify EHB Benchmark
By Max Levin, Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reform On Thursday, August 30, California passed legislation establishing the Kaiser Small Group HMO 30 plan as the state’s essential health benefits benchmark plan. Beyond identifying the state’s benchmark plan, the legislation appears to include a number of important consumer protections by, for example, prohibiting plans from…
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Pediatric Dental Benefits Under the ACA: Issues for State Advocates to Consider
By Joe Touschner The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and the Children’s Dental Health Project collaborated to produce this issue brief. It presents an overview of some of the key changes the Affordable Care Act makes to children’s dental benefits and the choices states face in defining pediatric dental benefits. It concludes with recommendations for those who wish to support…
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Covering Parents: A Solution Child Advocates Can Get Behind
Before the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, we released a paper highlighting the fact that 4.9 million parents stand to gain coverage through Medicaid in 2014. That research became even more significant after the Supreme Court ruling removed an important mechanism for the HHS Secretary to incentivize states to accept federal funds…
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Study Finds Medicaid Beneficiaries’ Use of Hospital Emergency Departments Comparable to Privately Insured Patients
By Tara Mancini Medicaid seems to be a lightening rod for inaccurate assumptions such as it’s too expensive for states (it’s a good deal for states), overall cost (more cost-effective than private insurance) and beneficiaries using hospital Emergency Departments for routine care. Until recently, there had not been much research to refute the perception of…
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Another ACA Double Win for States and Families: Aligning Medicaid Coverage for Children of All Ages
Imagine you’re a parent with a pre-schooler and a 9 year-old child, earn $20,000 a year (105% FPL) and live in Georgia. Your younger child qualifies for Medicaid coverage but has to renew coverage every six months. Your older child qualifies for CHIP coverage with a monthly premium of $10 but only has to renew…
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State of the States: Choosing an Essential Health Benefits Benchmark
By JoAnn Volk, Center on Health Insurance Reforms To help make coverage more comprehensive, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurers to cover a minimum set of health insurance benefits, known as “essential health benefits.” Consumers are already benefitting from this new protection: beginning in 2010, the ACA prohibits insurers from imposing lifetime or annual…
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In the Aftermath of SCOTUS: Should States Get Medicaid Waivers Allowing Partial Expansions?
One of the many questions that has arisen since the Supreme Court handed down its decision on the Affordable Care Act is whether a state could do a partial expansion – say to 100% of the poverty line — rather than 133% of FPL. This number is not plucked from the air but rather reflects…
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Waiting for 2014: One Family’s Story
Editor’s Note: Our colleagues at the Georgetown University Center for Health Insurance Reform just launched a blog called “CHIRblog”. Thanks to the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, CHIRblog will feature profiles of everyday people across the country who will – or have already – benefited from new consumer protections under the Affordable Care…
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Oral Health: It’s time to put the mouth back in the body
By Tara Mancini Yes, it is time to put the mouth back in the body. This paraphrases comments of Dr. Greg Nycz, a panelist at Kaiser Family Foundation’s screening earlier this summer of the PBS FRONTLINE documentary “Dollars and Dentists.” The film takes a hard look at the nation’s flawed dental care system, highlighting the…
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A New Addition to the CCF Family
Say Ahh! readers will notice the absence of blogger Jocelyn Guyer for the next few months, but rest assured all is well. Jocelyn and her family welcomed a new daughter, Julia Elizabeth Seidman, on July 31st. Julia arrived a few weeks early, so we at CCF are convinced she wanted to make her mother proud…
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Children’s health at stake in states’ refusal to expand Medicaid
Education Week August 9, 2012 By Nirvi Shah As some governors say they’ll back off federal plans to expand Medicaid — and with Maine’s governor planning to cut current rolls — advocates for children’s health warn of a rollback in the progress made in insuring poor children. Research shows that children’s ability to learn is tied…
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New Guide to EHB from CCF
By Joe Touschner If your state is like a many others, you’ve likely been hearing or participating in active discussions around setting the essential health benefits for your state. (Check out this State Refor(u)m chart for a list of state activities and documents related to EHBs.). Every state, whether it will have a state-run or…
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Child Health Advocates’ Guide to Essential Health Benefits
By Joe Touschner This guide highlights considerations for the selection of the essential health benefits with a focus on services for children. The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that each state will select an essential health benefits package based on an existing employer-based health plan. The guide outlines the process for choosing and supplementing…
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Video Advocacy from Coast to Coast
By Adam Searing, North Carolina Justice Center Editor’s Note: As many of you who attended our recent conference know, our friends at NC Justice Center have hit the road to promote the use of video advocacy among advocates across the country. Adam Searing returns to Say Ahh! to share the latest and greatest. Be sure…
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Consumer Assistance in the Digital Age
This brief provides recommendations on how states can connect consumers with health coverage programs like Medicaid and health insurance exchanges. It also explores how ways to connect consumers with health coverage options will evolve as new technological tools are deployed to facilitate the enrollment process. Where states’ use of new technology tools is limited, the authors…
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ACA To Keep Foster Care Youth Covered As They Transition to Adulthood
Young adults have historically been among the demographic groups with the highest rates of uninsurance. Many of these young adults are just joining the workforce and are unable to secure jobs with health benefits. In fact, nearly two out of five young adults ages 19 to 29 were without health insurance in 2011, with those…
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Florida: A Bellwether For Medicaid Expansion
The Atlantic August 6, 2012 By Erin N. Marcus He was a “frequent flyer” — a patient with multiple health problems who gets admitted to the hospital repeatedly. It was usually because he hadn’t taken his medicine correctly, if at all. When he left the hospital 10 days earlier, he told his physician that he…
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New Study Suggests that Expanding Medicaid Coverage Can Save Lives
By Tara Mancini A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine adds to the relatively sparse body of knowledge regarding the impact of Medicaid on adults’ health. Researchers looked at three states, Maine, New York, and Arizona that made Medicaid available to childless adults between 2000 and 2005 and found a net decrease…