All
-
Maternity Care Billing Changes Begin in 2027 with Potential for Better Transparency and Payments Across the Continuum of Care
As readers of Say Ahhh! know, 2027 will bring a host of unprecedented Medicaid changes, including work reporting requirements. One less prominent change ahead is adoption of new maternity care codes for insurance payers. Adopting new codes for maternity care adds to the long list of Medicaid agency to-dos, but remains critical for understanding and…
-
How Are Parents Impacted By Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements?
Overview Starting January 2027, H.R. 1 requires every state that has expanded Medicaid to low-income adults – whether through the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion or a Section 1115(a)(2) waiver – to implement work reporting requirements (WRRs). New WRR mandates affect those enrolled in the Medicaid expansion category – coverage for adults with income up…
-
New CDC Data Shows Increase in Vaccine Exemptions and Less Vaccine Coverage Nationally
On the heels of President Trump’s executive order directing changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated data for the 2025-2026 school year showing a decrease in coverage on all vaccines for incoming kindergartners. Specifically, vaccination rates to protect against diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus,…
-
H.R. 1 Readiness Tracker Update: Strain Is Building Before the Work Reporting Requirements Clock Starts
As states prepare to implement work reporting requirements, we are closely monitoring Medicaid and CHIP performance indicators on our H.R. 1 tracker. The latest Q1 2026 data show the status of state eligibility systems and processes right before most states start notifying enrollees about the requirements. The short answer: already strained and getting worse. Renewals…
-
Uninsured Infants and Toddlers Now Above 5% Nationally
What happens when children don’t have health insurance? Their families are exposed to greater financial risk if an accident or asthma attack puts their child in the emergency room. They are less likely to get regular check-ups and health services to keep them developmentally on track. For infants and toddlers, missing regular check-ups risks leaving…
-
“Data Privacy” Concerns Could Mean Less Race and Ethnicity Data from the Census Bureau
A few weeks ago, I wrote that new Commerce Department restrictions on the Census Bureau’s use of a group of data privacy methods called noise infusion could lead to less of the critical data, such as from the American Community Survey (ACS), that makes health policy research and analysis possible. But while the ban on…
-
Webinar: Medicaid Connections: Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs: Health & Justice
Download the Audio Transcript One in five children under age 18 have special health care needs, representing 15 million children from birth to 21. Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) include those who have chronic physical, developmental, or behavioral health needs that require services of a type or amount beyond that required by children…
-
Health Coverage Trends for Infants and Toddlers Under Age 3
Key Findings Methodology Data Sources This brief from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) analyzes data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) for 2015-2024. Because of differences in sample size and data processing, the estimates published here may differ from estimates produced using other…
-
Almost All Custodial Parents, Caretaker Relatives Should Not be Impacted by Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements in 28 States
As states rush to implement complex new work reporting requirement provisions before January 2027, the new Interim Final Rule (IFR) released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has caused massive confusion. However, the IFR made important clarifications about which adults are not subject to work reporting requirements (WRRs), are excluded from WRRs,…
-
New Executive Order Undermines Child Health
On August 10, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at making major changes to federal vaccine policy. Among several other actions, this order would make major revisions to the childhood vaccination schedule, direct care providers to administer monovalent vaccines as soon as they are available (starting with splitting up the MMR (measles, mumps,…
-
Medicaid Managed Care: The Big Five in Q2 2026
The “Big Five” have announced their results for the calendar quarter ending June 30. They are, of course, the five publicly-traded companies with the largest presence in the Medicaid managed care market, together accounting for about half of all Medicaid enrollees: Centene Corporation, CVS Health/Aetna, Elevance Health, Molina Healthcare, and UnitedHealth Group. The Medicaid market…
-
Missouri Voters Reject Attempts to Limit Ballot Measures Affecting Issues Like Medicaid Expansion
This week, voters in Missouri soundly rejected two state constitutional amendment ballot measures proposed by the Legislature that had implications for issues such as Medicaid expansion and other health policy issues. Proposed Amendment 4 (defeated 80% to 20%) would have required future proposed constitutional amendments in Missouri to achieve an individual majority in every congressional district…
-
Testimony Presented at U.S. Senate Budget Committee “Medicaid the Reality” Hearing
Andy Schneider, J.D., Research Professor of the Practice, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy Center for Children and Families, presented this testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Budget on August 4, 2026.
-
Early Childhood Educators Still Need Medicaid – Now More than Ever
Our brief on the critical role Medicaid plays for the early childhood education workforce has been re-published with new 2024 data, resources, and implications from the past year of federal actions, with the help of our partners, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC),…
-
CCF Comments on Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements Interim Final Rule
The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families submitted the following comments to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regarding CMS’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) implementing H.R. 1-mandated Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements (WRRs). Read the Comments.
-
CCF Submits Comments on Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements Interim Final Rule
Today, CCF submitted public comments on CMS’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) implementing H.R. 1-mandated Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements (WRRs). As we’ve written about time and time again, WRR policies are harmful, create unnecessary barriers to coverage, and will result in coverage losses without actually supporting work. Nonetheless, H.R. 1 has required most states to impose…
-
Change to Census Data Processing Methods Threatens Health Policy Research and Federal Data Systems
On June 4, 2026, the Commerce Department issued Department Administrative Order (DAO) 216-26, Disclosure Avoidance for Statistical Products, which bans a class of privacy techniques called “noise infusion” in all data products coming out of the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). This order, which was made effective immediately without opportunity for…
-
Weaponizing Fraud Against Medicaid in California and Minnesota: Another Quarter, Another Round of Deferrals
At a July 21 press conference, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz announced that his agency was deferring payment of $1.1 billion in federal Medicaid matching funds to California and Minnesota “pending review of high-risk claims in crackdown on fraud.” The amount of the California deferral was $867.5 million; the Minnesota deferral, $199.0 million. CMS has previously taken…
-
Senator Kim Introduces Bill to Cover All Children and Young Adults
Last week, Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) introduced a bill called the “MediKids Act” (S. 5037), described as “guaranteed healthcare for every child in America.” Original cosponsors were Sens. Booker (NJ), Duckworth (IL), Lujan (NM) and Padilla (CA) – all Democrats and the bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee. As regular readers of the…
-
CMS Issues New Rule Again Going Beyond H.R. 1 Requirements to Further Restrict State Use of Medicaid Provider Taxes
On July 21, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new proposed rule that would implement two of H.R. 1’s restrictions on states’ use of provider taxes to finance their share of Medicaid costs. H.R. 1 included three provider tax restrictions: (1) a prohibition on new provider taxes and increases in…
