2017
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Uninsured Rate For Alaska Native Children Cut Almost In Half
The Delta Discovery By: Trevor Storrs Alaska is among the top states leading a national trend in improvements to health care coverage rates for American Indian/Alaska Native children, according to a new report by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. … “At a time when Congress is considering extremely large cuts to Medicaid…
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No Way to Run a Railroad
The bill unveiled by the Senate leadership last week will cap the federal contribution to Medicaid, shifting large and ever-increasing costs to states and providers and children and families in perpetuity. That much is clear. What is less well understood is that at the same time the bill transfers costs to the states, it transfers…
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A Former State Medicaid Director Shares His Views on Proposed Medicaid Cuts
By Mark Reynolds As soon as tomorrow, the Senate plans to take up its version of Affordable Care Act “repeal and replace” legislation. However, much of this bill is not actually about changing the ACA itself. Instead, it would radically alter the Medicaid program and its historic financing arrangement between the state and federal government.…
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Insurer Q2 Earnings Reports Being – How Will Companies React to Federal Uncertainty?
By Emily Curran, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reform On July 18, Unitedhealthcare reported its second quarter (Q2) financial earnings, kicking off the Q2 cycle in which health insurers will announce their quarterly results, detail major financial gains and losses, and provide insight into how they expect to perform over the following quarter. While the audience…
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Indiana Scales Back Work Requirement
Modern Healthcare By: Virgil Dickson Indiana has relaxed its proposal to impose a work requirement on Medicaid beneficiaries following public backlash for the new provisions. But policy experts remain concerned that access to care will suffer. … “Any work requirement is bad policy as it will be counterproductive and administratively costly and doesn’t serve the…
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In Midst of Health Care Turmoil, States Step up for Immigrant Children
By Lena O’Rourke, CLASP The future of federal health policy feels uncertain right now—but for low-income children the need for high-quality health insurance has never been more urgent. Because governors, lawmakers, doctors, teachers, and parents all know how important health insurance is for the wellbeing of children, they want strong policy that provides coverage to children.…
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Report Finds Mixed Results In Health Coverage For South Dakota Natives
South Dakota Public Broadcasting By: Lee Strubinger For about a decade the rate of uninsured Native American children in South Dakota declined by almost fifty percent. In the same period, the rate of uninsured adults went up. … That’s according to a recent study out of Georgetown University, which finds South Dakota is one of…
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Report: Rate Of Native American Uninsured Fell Under Obamacare
Arizona Public Media By: Vanessa Barchfield Uninsured rates for Native Americans have declined significantly in Arizona and the country as a whole since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, according to a report from Georgetown University. In 2008, before Medicaid was expanded under Obamacare, 33 percent of Native American children in Arizona were uninsured.…
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Uninsured Rates for American Indian and Alaska Native Children are Coming Down But Are Still Too High: Medicaid Cuts Put These Kids at Risk
Continuing our deeper dive into recent coverage gains among at-risk populations thanks largely to Medicaid (like our recent report on Medicaid’s disproportionate role for small towns and rural areas), today we are releasing a new paper “Coverage Trends for American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Families.” The big takeaway: Uninsured rates for AI/AN children…
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Coverage Trends for American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Families
Uninsured rates for children in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families have dropped quickly in the past eight years, but they still remain high and will likely rise if substantial cuts are made to the Medicaid program, according to the report, Coverage Trends for American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Families. The report found: 54 percent of…
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Don’t Be Fooled by the Optics
The Senate Leadership has released a new version of a “repeal and replace” bill that may be considered by the full Senate next week. The new bill contains a few tweaks of the Medicaid provisions in the prior version, but these don’t fix the fundamental flaw in the bill for children and families: the cap…
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How Medicaid and CHIP Shield Children from the Rising Costs of Prescription Drugs
Nearly a quarter of U.S. children use at least one prescription drug a month, most commonly treating such conditions as asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and infections. Medicaid guarantees that enrolled children who need drugs receive them without any financial barriers, while some in the Children’s Health Insurance Program have a modest copayment. This report, the third in a…
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Parents of Medically Fragile Children Take Stand Against Medicaid Cuts
The Better Care Reconciliation Act, the health bill now being considered by the United States Senate, contains substantial cuts to health care for children, parents, people with disabilities, the elderly and other adults served by the federal/state Medicaid program. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that cuts to Medicaid in the bill will reach 35…
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Children’s Health At Risk
The Daily World By: Noam N. Levey Communities like this aging West Virginia coal town along the Kanawha River were key to President Donald Trump’s victory last year; more than two-thirds of voters in surrounding Fayette County backed the Republican nominee. … “There is very strong return on the Medicaid investment,” said Joan Alker, executive…
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A Medicaid Beneficiary in Indiana Speaks Out Against Work Requirements
We have been reading the comments that were publicly submitted to CMS on Indiana’s request to add a work requirement to its Medicaid waiver, known as Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) 2.0. This one jumped out at me: “I live in Indiana and rely on HIP 2.0 for my health insurance. I suffer from Bi-polar Disorder…
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New Texas Law Takes Important Step Towards Healthy Moms and Babies, Medicaid’s Future Will Determine Success
By Adriana Kohler, Texans Care for Children A new Texas law recognizes the powerful link between mothers’ mental health and children’s health, development, and long-term success. And it all started with discussions at a Center for Children and Families conference last summer. Last month, after Texas lawmakers packed their bags and returned home following a…
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Congressional Plans For Medicaid Would Have Outsize Impact on Rural, Elderly Missourians
MissouriNet By: Jason Taylor A new study shows the percentage of rural elderly Missourians who are dependent on Medicaid services is twice that of urban elderly residents. … The research titled “Medicaid’s Role for Seniors Living in Small Towns and Rural Areas” from Georgetown University’s Rural Health Policy Project reveals 18 percent of aging citizens…
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Actuaries: Medicaid Caps Will Not Reduce Spending but Transfer Costs to Providers, Insurers, Employers and Individuals
Add the American Academy of Actuaries to the list of experts expressing concerns about the proposed Medicaid caps. In a June 30th letter to the Senate, the experts on insurance risks described how the proposed Medicaid changes would impact states and beneficiaries. In describing the Medicaid caps generally, the Actuaries write that the House and…
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4 Ways You Probably Didn’t Know The Republican Bill Changes Medicaid
Vox By: Dylan Scott The headlines of the Senate Republican bill’s Medicaid overhaul should be familiar by now: It ends the generous federal funding for Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and places a federal spending cap on the program for the first time. … “The days when medical debt and uncompensated care were significant problems in the…
