2019
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States vow to press on with Medicaid work requirements
CNN By: Tami Luhby Arkansas and Kentucky officials are vowing to continue the fight to implement work requirements in their Medicaid programs despite a US District Court judge striking down the mandates. … Consumer advocates, however, argue that work requirements hurt people’s ability to rise out of poverty. “Taking people’s health care away does not…
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How Republicans Have Used a Phony Audit to Smear Medicaid Expansion in Louisiana
Bayou Brief By: Lamar White Jr. On Nov. 8th, 2018, less than a month before the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) debuted their state-of-the-art system for Medicaid enrollment, a total overhaul that transformed the inefficient method in place since Edwin Edwards’ final term as governor, the state legislative auditor, Daryl Purpera, published “Medicaid Eligibility: Wage…
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Arkansas governor urges fight for work requirement
Arkansas Democrat Gazette By: Andy Davis Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday that he has urged federal officials to quickly appeal a judge’s ruling that struck down the work requirement for Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program. In the meantime, he said, legislators should approve Senate Bill 99, which authorizes spending on the state’s Medicaid program, including the…
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Affordable Care Act Back in the Spotlight: Build on its Progress or Scrap it Entirely
It is hard to find a starker example of the different approaches our two political parties take to health care than the events of March 26, 2019. The day started with headlines about the Trump administration’s push to have the Affordable Care Act (ACA) declared unconstitutional, and ended with Democratic legislators in the U.S. House introducing a bill that…
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When Early Childhood Educators are Covered, Kids Win: Stories from North Carolina
If you, like me, have the peace of mind of knowing that your toddler or preschooler is well cared for and supported while you’re at work, you probably know already that you’re incredibly fortunate. I am grateful every day for the many early childhood teachers who make the safety, educational success, and wellbeing of a…
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Medicaid work requirements: What’s next?
Politico By: Dan Diamond … “The judge’s ruling is a wake-up call for states considering work requirements or other barriers to coverage in Medicaid,” Joan Alker, head of Georgetown’s Center for Children & Families, told PULSE. “The ruling also makes clear that Secretary Azar does not have unlimited waiver authority — wishing does not make…
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Trump Administration Encouraging States to Make Controversial Changes to Medicaid
The Fiscal Times By: Yuval Roseberg The Trump administration is encouraging red states to make controversial conservative changes to Medicaid without seeking congressional approval, The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel reports. … “To approve it the day after the court hearing was pretty in-your-face,” Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families,…
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Medicaid Work Requirements Could Hit Rural Hospitals
National Journal By: Erin Durkin The Trump administration’s push to add work requirements to Medicaid could pile onto the funding woes of struggling rural hospitals, possibly even adding to the numbers that end up closing their doors. … “Rural communities have more at stake in these debates because not only do they tend to have…
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Final Marketplace Data For 2019; CMS Extends ‘Grandmothered’ Policies Again
Health Affairs Blog By: Katie Keith Although enrollment through the ACA marketplaces remained stable for 2019, recent studies suggest that the uninsured rate may be rising. A recent Gallup poll found that the uninsured rate increased by 2.8 percentage points from 2016 to 2018, representing about 7 million uninsured adults. Federal surveys have shown that…
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Federal Judge Again Blocks States’ Work Requirements For Medicaid
NPR WAMU 88.5 By: Phli Galewitz For a second time in nine months, the same federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s plan to force some Medicaid recipients to work to maintain benefits. … Critics of the work policy hailed the latest ruling, which many expected since Boasberg last June stopped Kentucky from moving ahead…
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The Health 202: Trump administration undermines anti-opioid efforts by opposing Obamacare
The Washington Post By: Paige Winfield Cunningham A federal judge has thrown a wrench in the Trump administration’s efforts to impose work requirements on low-income people on Medicaid, blocking the work programs in Kentucky and Arkansas. … In statement, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called the ruling a…
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Judge Blocks Arkansas and Kentucky Medicaid Work Requirement Waivers: What Does This Decision Mean for Other States?
Under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), federal agencies may not take actions that are “arbitrary or capricious.” If they do, federal courts are instructed to hold the action unlawful and set it aside. Late yesterday afternoon, that’s exactly what Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia did with…
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Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, and Cost Sharing Policies as of January 2019: Findings from a 50-State Survey
Executive Summary This 17th annual survey of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) provides data on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost sharing policies as of January 2019. It is based on a telephone survey of state Medicaid and CHIP officials conducted by the Kaiser…
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Hot Off the Press: Annual KFF 50-State Survey on Medicaid
This 17th annual KFF survey and key resource for Medicaid stakeholders reports eligibility, enrollment, renewal and cost-sharing policies in place as of January 2019 for children, pregnant women, parent/caretakers, and low-income adults in Medicaid and CHIP. Like the previous year, for the most part states continued to refine their efforts in delivering a streamlined, data-driven…
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Harnessing Medicaid Payment Reform to Improve Child Health
Child health stakeholders have eagerly followed the progress in New York State’s First 1,000 Days Initiative aimed at using value-based purchasing (VBP) in Medicaid to assure a healthy start and school readiness. Now, the United Hospital Fund (UHF) – the backbone of New York’s effort – has published a brief that explores the context and…
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Florida House Committee Approves Bill to Impose Harsh Medicaid Rules on Low-Income Parents
A Florida House Committee recently (3/13) approved HB 955, on a party line vote, a bill that would authorize the Governor to seek a Section 1115 Medicaid waiver to impose likely the most punitive work reporting requirements in the nation on very poor parents receiving their health coverage through Medicaid. Because Florida has not expanded…
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Study cited in Wisconsin debate on expanding Medicaid and taking federal money called ‘garbage’
Journal Sentinel By: Guy Boulton Lost in the ongoing debate over whether Wisconsin should expand eligibility for Medicaid — and accept roughly $184.9 million a year in federal dollars for doing so — is one small detail: Former Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature already expanded the Medicaid program. … Finally, there’s the debate over the…
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Red States Seek to Remake Medicaid
The Wall Street Journal By: Stephanie Armour Republican-led states are stepping up their efforts with the Trump administration to pursue work requirements and other changes to Medicaid, in the face of legal challenges and Democratic opposition. Tennessee Republicans want permission to revamp Medicaid in exchange for a fixed amount from the federal government. Utah is…
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Trump officials take bold steps on Medicaid
The Hill By: Nathaniel Weixel The Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to encourage red states to make conservative changes to Medicaid without congressional input. Administration officials are pushing ahead and granting approvals to states seeking to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, even in the face of legal challenges and large-scale losses…
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How Would Utah’s Medicaid Partial Expansion Waiver Break New Ground if Approved
Utah’s legislature recently passed a bill which rolled back the Medicaid expansion passed by the voters in November and substituted a much weaker replacement. With the Governor planning to start enrollment on April 1st into the more limited version, we expect some action by CMS on Utah’s pending Medicaid Section 1115 proposal in the next…
