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2017

  • Medicaid is Increasingly Important for Kids and Families in Small Towns and Rural Communities

    Since we started doing our annual report on uninsured children six years ago, the slightly higher overall rate for children living in rural areas has caught my eye. As a researcher, I always want to learn more about the populations that have higher uninsured rates. This year, with funding from the Pritzker Children’s Initiative, my…

  • Rural Health Report: Medicaid is a Lifeline for Small Towns and Rural Communities

    Medicaid is a vital source of health coverage nationwide, but the program’s role is even more pronounced in small towns and rural areas. Medicaid covers a larger share of nonelderly adults and children in rural and small-town areas than in metropolitan areas; this trend is strongest among children. Demographic factors have an impact on this…

  • State Data on Child Health Coverage in Small Towns and Rural Areas

    The state-specific downloads in the table below show county-level data on children’s Medicaid coverage and uninsurance for the time periods 2008/09 and 2014/15. The accompanying county-level state maps show whether a county was below or above the national average in 2014/15 with regard to the rate of children’s medicaid coverage and the rate of uninsured children in…

  • State Data on Adult Health Coverage in Small Towns and Rural Areas

    The state-specific downloads in the table below show county-level data on adults’ Medicaid coverage and uninsurance for the time periods 2008/09 and 2014/15. The accompanying county-level state maps show whether a county was below or above the national average in 2014/15 with regard to the rate of adults’ medicaid coverage and the rate of uninsured adults in small towns and…

  • Study: Medicaid Cuts Would Disproportionately Affect Arizona’s Rural Children

    Arizona Public Media By: Vanessa Barchfield Fifty-four percent of children in Arizona living in small towns and rural areas got health coverage through AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program in 2015, a study said. … “And I think what this research shows is that children and families in small towns and rural areas will be disproportionately…

  • Public Firmly Opposed to Cutting Medicaid

    The respected Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll released today confirms what we’ve been saying here at CCF for years – Medicaid is an extremely popular program that is a critical part of our health system. I recently detailed how Medicaid’s increasing importance to Americans has had a noticeable effect on health policy debates. Now…

  • How Proposed Spending Caps To Medicaid Are Calculated

    Fox Business By: Jo Craven McGinty The fiscal 2018 budget, released last week, was short on details but endorses a bill passed last month by the U.S. House of Representatives that would restrict Medicaid spending for the first time since the program started in 1965. … “That’s serious capital coming into a state treasury,” said…

  • Medicaid Fills a Crucial Role in Rural America

    A number of new resources have been published recently by other research organizations on the key role that Medicaid plays in providing coverage for residents of rural areas. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s report, “The Role of Medicaid in Rural America,” found that Medicaid helps overcome some of the unique challenges in rural areas including provider…

  • How Many Will Be Impacted By Work Requirements: Indiana Gives Us The First Clue

    As has been widely reported, there are a number of states seeking Section 1115 waivers to establish work requirements for their Medicaid expansion populations – and the Trump Administration has indicated that they are likely to say yes. In just the last week Arkansas and Indiana opened public comment periods at the state level for…

  • It is Complicated. A Child’s View Can Guide Us.

    By Rylin Rodgers, Riley Child Development Center Too often policy discussions and budget debates are framed in terms of winners and losers at the program, department, or budget line level. Families raising children who have health care needs and disabilities are impacted every day by public policy, systems, and services related to health care, education, housing,…

  • No Doubt About It: Medicaid Capped, Uninsured Increased, and Taxes Cut

    Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released their estimate of the House bill to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The Senate, and seemingly much of Western Civilization, has been on CBO/JCT watch since the House of Representatives narrowly passed the bill on May 4 with…

  • GOP Health Care Bill Analysis To Be Released By Congressional Budget Office

    Normangee Star By: Madeline Patrick Under the ACA, health plans sold to individuals and small groups (employers with 50 or fewer employees) must include 10 essential benefits: emergency services, habilitative and rehabilitative services, inpatient care, outpatient care, maternity and newborn care, mental health and addiction treatment, lab tests, preventive care, prescriptions, and pediatric services, including oral…

  • How Trump’s Health Budget Would Impact States

    Governing By: Mattie Quinn Just over one hundred days into Donald Trump’s presidency, he has left health officials with more uncertainty than most have faced in years. A promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, one of the biggest overhauls of modern health care, hangs in the balance. Waivers to transform Medicaid, the…

  • Trump’s Proposed Budget Would Repeal the Maintenance of Effort Provision

    The President’s FY 2018 budget, released yesterday, proposed repealing the maintenance of effort (MOE) provision as of October 1, 2017. As readers of Say Ahhh! already know, the MOE has been critical to maintaining stability for children’s coverage – and even improving coverage levels – while the rest of the health care system in the…

  • Fact Sheet: The Maintenance of Effort (MOE) Provision in the Affordable Care Act

    The Affordable Care Act (ACA) included a “maintenance of effort” (MOE) provision that has ensured stability of coverage for children in Medicaid and CHIP, even as the rest of the U.S. healthcare system has seen significant change. The MOE—along with coverage expansions for parents and other adults in Medicaid and the Marketplaces – has helped…

  • Trump Budget Poses Even More Threats to Children’s Health

    Today President Trump’s budget came out and the news for children’s health coverage is devastating. In addition to assuming the enormous cuts and dangerous changes to Medicaid included in the House passed American Health Care Act (that we have blogged about many times), the President is proposing even larger cuts to Medicaid and is proposing…

  • The Health 202: Obamacare Was Supposed To Make CHIP Unnecessary

    The Washington Post By: Paige Winfield Cunningham President Trump is expected to today propose a hefty 20 percent cut in his budget to the Children’s Health Insurance Program, my colleagues report. Democrats will protest, but they too toyed with the idea of eliminating CHIP seven years ago when passing the Affordable Care Act. … “If you cap Medicaid, it turns into…

  • Trump’s New Budget Plan Guts Medicaid. Here’s What You Need To Know

    Time By: Alicia Adamczyk The Trump Administration’s 2018 budget request, unveiled Tuesday, includes deep cuts to Medicaid, the insurance program for low income, elderly, and disabled Americans. Medicaid covers nearly one in four Americans and accounts for $1 out of every $6 spent on healthcare in the country. … The Children’s Health Insurance Program, which covered more than 8.4…

  • Trump Budget Would Cut Health Benefits For Many Lower-Income Kids, Experts Fear

    The Washington Post By: Juliet Eilprin Lower-income children would have their federal health benefits cut sharply under President Trump’s proposed budget, which analysts say could reverse gains that have pushed uninsured rates for this vulnerable population below 5 percent. … Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said Tuesday that Trump’s…

  • Trump Wants To Cut Medicaid, Children’s Health Care

    The Charlotte Observer By: Tony Pugh President Donald Trump’s new budget proposal calls for stripping $610 billion from the Medicaid program over the next 10 years – providing an executive-branch rubber stamp of key provisions in Obamacare repeal legislation being championed by Republicans in the House of Representatives. … Since half of Medicaid beneficiaries are children,…