Webinar: Medicaid Connections: Maternal and Infant Health and Justice

Download the Audio Transcript As the nation’s largest payer for maternity care, Medicaid is a cornerstone for advancing reproductive justice and dismantling systemic health inequities. H.R.1 legislation directly impacts maternal and infant health. True reproductive and justice requires policymakers to optimize Medicaid by funding holistic, culturally centered and linguistically concordant care, including midwifery, doula and…

July 21, 2026

Research & Reports

Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements: How Can States Protect Pregnant and Postpartum Women from Losing Health Coverage?

Overview Starting in January 2027, H.R. 1 requires every state that adopted the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) Medicaid expansion to low-income adults (and select additional states) to implement work reporting requirements. These work reporting requirements (WRRs) predominantly affect those enrolled in the Medicaid expansion category—coverage for adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal…

July 17, 2026

By

Elisabeth Wright Burak

and

Kay Johnson

Research & Reports

New Federal Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements Rule Threatens Coverage for Vulnerable Americans: An Explainer of the Interim Final Rule

On June 1, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), published the Interim Final Rule with Comment (CMS-2454-IFC, hereafter referred to as the IFR) “Medicaid Program; Community Engagement Requirement for Certain Individuals” as required by the 2025 Budget Reconciliation Law (hereafter referred to as H.R. 1). States that have expanded Medicaid to adults…

July 16, 2026

By

,

,

,

and

Blog

CMS Approach to Work Reporting Requirement Won’t Work for People with Substance Use Disorders or Mental Health Conditions

By Deborah Steinberg, Senior Health Policy Attorney, Legal Action Center A few weeks ago, CCF explained how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new interim final rule with comment period (IFR) that went far beyond its authority to implement the new work reporting requirements. H.R. 1 – the budget reconciliation law…

July 9, 2026

By

Guest

Blog

Revalidation of ‘High-Risk’ Medicaid Providers: Early Lessons from Minnesota

On April 23, the CMS Administrator, Dr. Mehmet Oz, issued a letter to State Medicaid Directors “formally asking that your state develop and submit a comprehensive two-year provider revalidation (PR) strategy….” This SMD is not posted on Medicaid.gov with all the other SMDs, but you can view it on the Fox News website. The state…

July 8, 2026

By

Andy Schneider

Blog

Transforming Perinatal Care in Colorado: Q&A with Elephant Circle Founder Indra Lusero

We have been watching and tracking all of the progress in states to improve Medicaid for pregnant and postpartum people during a period of rapid, positive change, even during the most recent legislative sessions under a backdrop of federal cuts. Colorado was one of the early states to pursue comprehensive maternal health initiatives, so we…

July 6, 2026

By

Tanesha Mondestin

Blog

Post Office Rural Service and Proposed Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements on Collision Course

I recently wrote about problems with the federal government’s suggested definition of “volunteer” in the proposed rule implementing the new law (H.R. 1) passed by Congress that requires patients to meet work/volunteer reporting requirements to maintain Medicaid coverage. The changes in this law are estimated to increase the number of uninsured Americans by 10 million people…

July 6, 2026

By

Adam Searing

Blog

How H.R. 1 Cuts and Changes to Medicaid Played out in 2026 State Legislative Sessions (Part 2)

It’s been nearly a year since H.R.1 was signed into law, enacting the largest Medicaid cuts in history and setting off a scramble in state capitals to respond. Back in March, we took a look at how ten state legislatures were grappling with the impending budget holes and policies created by H.R.1. Now that most…

July 2, 2026

By

Jade Little

and

Adriana Kohler

Blog

Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements: States Ask a Federal Court to Protect Medically Frail Individuals from CMS Overreach

On June 3, CMS issued an Interim Final Rule (IFR) misinterpreting the work reporting requirements enacted last July in H.R. 1. The H.R. 1 provisions were bad enough, but as my colleague Leo Cuello has explained, the IFR imposes policies on states and individuals that the Congress did not enact. Most notably, the IFR makes…

July 2, 2026

By

Andy Schneider

Presentations

Webinar: Medicaid Financing

The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families hosted a webinar took place on Tuesday, June 30 at 2pm ET. This webinar covered the basics of Medicaid financing, including how the federal-state partnership works, how federal funding is mandatory and not subject to annual appropriations, and how states finance their share of Medicaid costs. It…

June 30, 2026

Presentations

Medicaid Connections Webinar Series

Medicaid is the invisible backbone of advocacy promoting health and well-being for people in low-income jobs. It covers birthing for moms and babies, comprehensive benefits for children, coverage for low-income adults, and it helps keep the lights on at many hospitals that accept all types of insurance. Deep cuts to the program could significantly affect…

June 29, 2026

Blog

Ten New States Join the CCBHC Medicaid Demonstration, H.R. 1 Puts Its Success at Risk

As readers of the blog know, the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model has been one of the rare bright spots in more recent federal behavioral health policy and one with deep bipartisan roots. As a reminder, CCBHCs are community-based behavioral health providers that meet federal certification criteria. While some operate independently, the CCBHC…

June 29, 2026

By

Anne Dwyer

Blog

Young Children’s Uninsurance is On the Rise – What Can Be Done to Protect Child Health?

Earlier this month, we released an analysis of uninsurance trends that found that young children were becoming uninsured at a faster rate than their school-aged peers. The trend is alarming and predates the massive declines we are seeing in child Medicaid enrollment since President Trump took office and before H.R. 1 Medicaid cuts and policy…

June 26, 2026

By

Elisabeth Wright Burak

and

Joan Alker

Blog

Trump Administration Issues Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver Financing Guidance Which Goes Far Further Than H.R. 1 (Again)

On Friday, June 11 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new guidance on the Secretary’s approach to implementing Section 1115(g) which was added to the Social Security Act by H.R. 1 – the President’s signature budget bill enacted last year. (Our explainer of the health provisions in the bill can be found…

June 25, 2026

By

Joan Alker

and

Edwin Park

Blog

Would Benjamin Franklin’s Volunteer Fire Brigade Satisfy DHHS’s Proposed Rule on Medicaid Work Reporting “Community Engagement” Requirements?

Americans, as French political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville observed in 1831, have a special propensity for coming together outside of government as volunteers for community improvement. From Benjamin Franklin’s organization of the nation’s first volunteer fire brigade to President George H. W. Bush’s 1989 call for Americans to volunteer as a “thousand points of light,”…

June 18, 2026

By

Adam Searing

Blog

CMS Ignores the Law (Again) – This Time Taking Health Insurance Away from Individuals with Substance Use Disorders, Mental Health Conditions, and Serious Health Conditions

Just a few weeks ago, we explained how the Center for Medicare and Medicaid’s (CMS) proposed regulation on state directed payments goes far beyond the statutory authority in H.R. 1 to incredibly harmful effect. Now it has happened again. This time CMS has issued an interim final rule on work reporting requirements (the “IFR”) that…

June 18, 2026

By

Leonardo Cuello

Blog

The Administration Weaponizes Fraud Against Medicaid: HHS OIG Hammers Hawaii

On May 13, Vice President Vance, the chair of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, held a press conference. He announced the deferral of $1.3 billion in federal Medicaid matching payments owed to California, which received considerable attention. He also announced that the HHS Inspector General had by letter that day warned state…

June 12, 2026

By

Andy Schneider

Blog

A Decade Later, CMS Updates the Medicaid EPSDT Playbook for States: Here’s What You Need to Know

The Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit is the heart of Medicaid’s coverage for children, and something we have been tracking for a long time. As highlighted in past blog posts, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) released a landmark state health official letter in 2024 followed up by issuance…

June 10, 2026

By

Anne Dwyer

Blog

New Federal Medicaid Work Reporting Rule Threatens Coverage for Vulnerable Americans

Statement by Joan Alker, Executive Director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and Research Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy: “This rule gives states a raw deal, but more importantly, puts health care at risk for people with illnesses and chronic conditions like cancer or a substance use disorder. It…

June 2, 2026

Blog

Uninsurance Among Youngest Children on the Rise as Families Face Growing Economic Pressure

Today we released a report sharing the alarming news that the number of infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children going without insurance is now at the highest rate in nearly a decade and is rising sharply. Not only did 220,000+ more young children (birth up to age 6) become uninsured between 2022 and 2024 –they lost…

June 1, 2026

By

Elisabeth Wright Burak

and

Aubrianna Osorio

Search

Filter By

Date

Results