August 2024
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CMS Gives Options to States with “Unusual Circumstances” to Extend Unwinding Renewals, Redistributing Renewals, and Deal with Pending Renewals
CMS has released new guidance for states that are not yet done with the unwinding. Due to the unprecedented nature of the unwinding – exacerbated by workforce challenges and resulting in an uneven and unsustainable renewal volume in many states – CMS concludes that the unwinding constitutes an administrative emergency that justifies exceptions to the…
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North Carolina Finds Innovative New Way to Provide Families with Needed Medical Debt Relief
As a nonprofit health attorney over a decade ago I worked in North Carolina on pushing hospital systems to eliminate the practice of suing lower income patients for medical debt and associated abuses like pursuing liens against the houses of poor families. A Pulitzer-prize nominated newspaper series detailed the situation at the time in North…
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Approved and Pending Section 1115 Demonstrations to Provide Health-Related Social Need Services to Pregnant and Postpartum Individuals and Children
Last Updated August 28, 2024 States are increasingly seeking to leverage Medicaid to provide services and supports to address health-related social needs (HRSN) services and supports, particularly through section 1115 demonstration projects. Pregnant and postpartum individuals and children are key populations states are targeting in their efforts to cover HRSN services. Addressing unmet HRSN among…
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Future of Medicaid Likely Hinges on Election but Voters Are Not Yet Hearing About Candidates’ Views
By Joan Alker and Michael Perry We’ve worked on Medicaid policy and/or public opinion research for three decades now and have observed its growing importance as the backbone of our health care system – now covering approximately 80 million people — as well as its centrality to voters. Medicare and Social Security are often described…
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Biden Administration Proposes Rule To Ban Medical Debt From Credit Reporting
By Sheela Ranganathan and Maanasa Kona, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms Amidst the growing interest among policymakers to protect patients from medical debt and its negative downstream effects, in April 2023, the three credit reporting agencies (CRAs)—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—voluntarily agreed to stop reporting any medical debt under $500. This April, the Consumer Financial…
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Back-to-School Season is Key to Reconnecting Kids to Health Coverage
More than 5 million children have lost Medicaid coverage since states began the process of unwinding the pandemic continuous coverage protection. And recently released data from the National Health Insurance Survey (NHIS) for the first quarter of 2024 adds to our concerns that children are losing access to the health care they need to succeed.…
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New Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms Report Examines State Reforms of Prior Authorization
By Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms Faculty Health insurers’ use of prior authorization – a medical management tool requiring providers to seek the insurer’s approval before their patient receives a healthcare item or service – appears to be on the rise. While providers and patients raise concerns that prior authorization can inhibit patient…
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Birth Centers Offer Potential to Transform Maternity Care Through Community-Led Approaches that Focus on Families of Color
Last month the Commonwealth Fund highlighted the role of freestanding birth centers in Community-Led Approach to Transforming Maternity Care. Freestanding birth centers, which use a midwifery and wellness model, provide a choice for families to deliver outside of a hospital or their home. The U.S. hosts 415 freestanding birth centers in 40 states and Washington,…
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Medicaid Managed Care: Results of the PHE Unwinding for the Big Five in Q2 2024
The Q2 2024 earnings reports for the “Big Five” Medicaid managed care companies are in. They tell us that the PHE unwinding is winding down, but it’s still driving declines in Medicaid enrollment for the companies as a group. Here are the numbers. For the fifth consecutive quarter, beginning with Q2 2023, Medicaid enrollment for…
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Prominent Conservative/GOP Plans Share Common Priority: Medicaid Block Grants and Per Capita Caps
The Project 2025 blueprint, the fiscal year 2025 Republican Study Committee budget plan, and the fiscal year 2025 House budget resolution all propose draconian Medicaid cuts, with a centerpiece of capping and cutting federal Medicaid funding through block grants and/or per capita caps. Together, they signal that radically restructuring Medicaid would likely be a high…
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Community-Based Assistance Programs Support Applicants Where They Live and are a Gold Standard for Outreach
In this final installment of our series on Medicaid and CHIP outreach, we look at community-based assistance programs and resources in each state. Personalized assistance is critical to helping individuals and families find and access support to navigate confusing processes. CCF’s state outreach snapshot found state-supported outreach assistance programs in 30 states. Most, states with…
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GAO Releases Report on Federal Oversight and the Unwinding
There are many lessons to be learned from the unwinding, but among the top items on the list is the discovery that many states are not following federal renewal regulations that have been in place for more than a decade. Noting that, the Government Accountability Office (GOA) has released a report entitled: “Medicaid: Federal Oversight…
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An Explanation of Final Medicaid Managed Care and Access Rules
Executive Summary While the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has overseen the steady growth in Medicaid coverage over recent years, CMS has faced the additional challenges of ensuring that coverage truly leads to meaningful access to care and that there is strong oversight. CMS recently finalized two key regulations: “Ensuring Access to Medicaid…
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This Year’s House Republican Budget Resolution Also Includes Severe Medicaid Cuts
While Medicaid continues to fly beneath the radar as an election issue, it is increasingly clear that the results of this fall’s federal elections will determine whether Medicaid will be at serious threat of deep and damaging cuts next year. I have previously written about the severe Medicaid cuts proposed in the Project 2025 blueprint…
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Congratulations to CCF’s 2024 Bulldogs of the Year
Every year at our annual conference we recognize the achievements of leaders in the health policy community by bestowing Georgetown CCF Bulldog Awards. This year we awarded Bulldog Awards to two state partners and another special lifetime achievement award to one of our founders. Linda Dixon: The first Bulldog was awarded to Attorney Linda Dixon,…
