Cathy Hope

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Cathy Hope

Cathy Hope is the Communications Director for the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy's Center for Children and Families. She is the creator and editor of Say Ahhh!, a popular health policy blog and is an experienced communications and public policy professional. She has developed communications and legislative strategies for the public, private, and non-profit sectors. She began her career in Washington, D.C. as a legislative assistant to Congressman Bruce Vento and successfully led efforts to enact and fully-fund the Vento-McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.

Latest From Cathy

Leading Children’s Health and Medical Organizations Sound Alarm on Drop in Child Medicaid/CHIP Enrollment

As Tricia Brooks uncovered in her recent blog, the number of children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) nationwide fell by about 840,000 in 2018. In response to this news, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children’s Defense Fund, Children’s Dental Health Project, Children’s Hospital Association, Family Voices, First Focus on Children, Georgetown […]

CMS Announces New Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment Grants

CMS announced the availability of $48 million in “Connecting Kids to Coverage” outreach and enrollment grants and not a moment too soon. As we recently reported, our nation’s progress on children’s health coverage actually reversed course last year registering the first statistically significant increase in the child uninsured rate in a decade. As a majority […]

Leading Children’s Health, Medical and Advocacy Organizations Object to Work Requirements and Other Barriers to Medicaid Coverage

A broad and diverse group of children’s health, medical and advocacy organizations are speaking up against adding work requirements and other barriers to Medicaid coverage. Forty-four organizations sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar today expressing serious concerns about the agency’s proposed changes to Medicaid’s Section 1115 waiver policy, which could lead to thousands […]

Short-Term Fix is Not Enough to Reassure Children and Families CHIP is Secure

Congress created a crisis when it failed to meet the deadline to extend CHIP funding on September 30, and they have been kicking the can down the road ever since. Their neglect has left states trying to hold their CHIP programs together as best they can under very difficult circumstances, while holding out hope that […]

Kaiser Tracking Poll Shows CHIP Funding is Much Higher Priority than Tax Reform

The Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll was released today and it has good news for those who care about children’s health. While children’s advocates may feel that their messages about the need to extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has not been getting through, this poll shows somebody has been listening to […]