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Maternal health improved by Medicaid coverage, study says
Modern Healthcare By: Steven Johnson Expanded access to Medicaid was associated with 1.6 fewer maternal deaths per 100,000 women compared with states that didn’t expand the program, according to a new study. The infant death rate also fell more dramatically in Medicaid expansion states—by more than 50% from 2010 to 2016. Those findings were in…
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Latest Coverage Proposals In Congress
Health Affairs By: Katie Keith Congressional Democrats have released several recent proposals related to health insurance coverage and the COVID-19 crisis… The Heroes Act would further raise the temporary FMAP increase to 14 percentage points from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. If the emergency extends beyond June 30, 2021, the FMAP adjustment would…
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For many Americans, losing a job means scrambling for health insurance
CBS News By: Walecia Konrad When Tim Seib, a theater director who lives in Manhattan, lost not one but two jobs in March due to the shutdowns caused by the coronavirus, he found himself embarking on a different full-time pursuit: hunting for affordable health insurance…”A lot of these folks who’ve never experienced job losses before…
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How Partisan Gerrymandering Hurts Kids
American Progress By: Alex Tausanovitch, et. al Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing district lines to unfairly favor particular politicians or political parties in elections. It is a political dirty trick—and an extremely harmful one—that turns democracy upside down, letting politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their politicians….However, eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP…
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COVID-19 and Child Welfare
We’ve written a lot in the past few months about the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Medicaid and CHIP. We’ve also written about the devastating impact of the pandemic on the economy and state budgets. Unfortunately, the devastation doesn’t stop there. Today, we invited two of our partners at the Children’s Defense Fund, Stefanie…
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Behavioral Health Services in Separate State CHIP Programs: Is Your State in Compliance?
Access to behavioral health services has long lagged behind physical health, despite a clear and growing need. The need has no doubt been exacerbated by the stress of the new coronavirus. Finding and ensuring health coverage for pregnant women and children’s mental health services – ones that are appropriate for their developmental stage — can…
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Medicaid as First Responder: Enrollment Is on the Rise
Introduction Medicaid is and will continue to play a central role in the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to both the health crisis and the ensuing economic crisis. With unemployment rapidly rising to double digits and workers (and their spouses and dependent children) losing their employer-sponsored insurance, it has been widely expected…
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Congress must address the urgent Latino priorities left out of the CARES Act
Unidos US On behalf of UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza), I thank you for coming together to pass the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act …The pandemic has reinforced the importance of quality, affordable, and accessible health coverage and care in order to live a healthy life in general,…
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Here’s how much for-profit hospitals have received in bailout funding so far
Healthcare Dive By: Samantha Liss The nation’s largest for-profit hospital chains have received a total of about $2.2 billion in federal grants so far, which is intended to provide financial relief to hospitals and providers amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus and the havoc it has wreaked on their operations… “Nothing has been targeted…
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Medicaid Work Requirements: News from the Litigation Front
It has been obvious for several months that the wheels have come off the Medicaid work requirements bus. The Secretary of HHS has approved “demonstrations” of work requirements in nine states; none of these states is currently implementing. And no state that accepts the 6.2 percentage point increase in its federal Medicaid matching rate made…
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As record numbers of Pennsylvanians struggle, more ask for help
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette By: Kate Giammarise With many businesses still partially or completely closed and unemployment climbing, some Pennsylvanians are turning to public programs to make ends meet — though far fewer than might be expected given double-digit jobless numbers and long lines at free food distribution sites… A dozen states have posted April enrollment data…
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Deadlines for laid-off workers to get health care coverage coming next week
CBS News The first deadlines to qualify for fallback coverage under the Affordable Care Act are looming for many laid-off workers who lost their health insurance in the coronavirus shutdown… The federal-state Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid cover kids in families with incomes well above the poverty level. “Medicaid is open year round if…
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COVID-19, State Budget Deficits, and Medicaid Managed Care
The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed not just death, but also massive unemployment and a steep recession. Among the economic casualties are state budgets, which have been knocked badly out of balance by the resulting drop in revenues and the prospect of increased enrollment in Medicaid and other safety net programs. Among those spared from the…
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Child vaccinations down across the country amid coronavirus fears
ABC News By: John Santucci, Katherine Faulders, Olivia Rubin, Jay Bhatt, and Allison Pecorin As many as 20 states across the country are reporting a rapid decrease in the number of children receiving their routine vaccinations over the past few months, according to a nationwide survey conducted by ABC News. … Joan Alker, the executive…
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Children’s hospitals ask feds for more money amid ‘catastrophic loss’ due to coronavirus
ABC News By: Olivia Rubin The leaders of over 75 children’s hospitals across the country on Monday asked the federal government for more funding to help sustain their operations and offset the “catastrophic loss” they said they have faced during the coronavirus pandemic. … Generally speaking, Joan Alker, the Executive Director of the Center for Children…
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Medicaid Clinics And Doctors Have Been Last In Line For COVID-19 Relief Funding
NPR By: Julie Rovner Casa de Salud, a nonprofit clinic in Albuquerque, N.M., provides primary medical care, opioid addiction services and non-Western therapies, including acupuncture and reiki, to a largely low-income population. And as with so many other health care institutions that serve as a safety net, this clinic’s revenue — and its future —…
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Governors eye Medicaid cuts to ease COVID-19 budget pain
The Hill By: Jessie Hellmann Governors facing huge budget shortfalls are eyeing cuts to Medicaid, even as millions of unemployed Americans flock to the health insurance program after losing their employer-based coverage.States that are buckling under declining revenues and increased Medicaid enrollment due to COVID-19 say they may have no choice but to cut the…
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Increased CHIP Matching Rates under House-Passed HEROES Act
The House-passed HEROES Act (H.R. 6800) would provide an additional one-year increase to the federal Medicaid matching rate (from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021), on top of the FMAP increase enacted as part of the Families First Act (P.L. 116-127). As I have explained, the further FMAP increase, in turn, would increase the…
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News and Notes on Medicaid Prescription Drug Pricing and Coverage Issues
Unfortunately, Congress has largely shelved drug pricing legislation, including sound proposals to lower federal and state Medicaid drug costs, as it focuses on legislation responding to the ongoing COVID-19 health and economic crisis. Nevertheless, there have some developments in the area of Medicaid prescription drug pricing and coverage over the last few months that are…
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As Expected, Medicaid Enrollment is Starting to Increase
As I keep saying, Medicaid is a first responder to the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to both the health crisis and the ensuing economic crisis. With unemployment rapidly rising to double digits, it was only a matter of time until Medicaid/CHIP started to see enrollment increases. Medicaid enrollment has long been closely aligned with the…
