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Increase in Federal Medicaid Matching Rate Should Be Essential Element of Any COVID-19 Response
Federal policymakers have started to consider how to address a serious economic downturn that could result from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. For example, the Trump Administration is pursuing a temporary payroll tax cut and tax deferrals for certain industries, even though the proposal would not provide effective fiscal stimulus, as the Center on Budget…
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Decade of Success for Latino Children’s Health Now in Jeopardy
Introduction All children deserve a healthy, secure foundation that enables them to lead long and productive lives. Although many factors influence a child’s trajectory, having access to health coverage is essential to a child’s healthy development and is correlated with better educational outcomes, higher paying jobs as an adult, and improved health over a lifetime.…
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Medicaid and COVID-19
One of Medicaid’s many strengths is its ability to help states respond to public health epidemics. Through Medicaid, federal funds are available on an open-ended basis to match state costs of immunizing, testing, diagnosing, and treating over 71 million low-income Americans in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease. Which is a good…
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State Leaders Advance Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Policy
We know that mental health issues can take root very early in life. Infants and young children can have diagnosable and treatable mental health disorders. However, with the right treatment, we can ameliorate the effects and prevent the more costly impacts and interventions that often result when mental health challenges go unaddressed. States are increasingly…
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Indiana’s Own Medicaid Waiver Evaluation Shows Evidence of Coverage Losses
Indiana’s Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) demonstration, which has been approved in its current form since January 2015, has its extension application up for federal comment. If approved as is, the demonstration would be allowed to continue ten for years! The current HIP demonstration includes work requirements, a tiered benefit structure based on payment of monthly…
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More Medicaid Eligibility Checks Hamper Enrollment, Advisers Warn
Bloomberg Law Medicaid enrollment could decline if the Trump administration allows states to impose more frequent eligibility determinations for program beneficiaries, an advisory panel warned Friday. … Commissioner Tricia Brooks said she’s “extremely concerned” about a proposal for more frequent eligibility determinations that would increase administrative burden on state Medicaid staffs. “It seems to me…
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Texas Children’s delivers health care on wheels aboard the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile
Texas Medical Center Traveling Texas Children’s Hospital health care professionals provide much-needed vaccinations and checkups to uninsured children in the Houston area through the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. … Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people 18 and younger as well as the most uninsured children of any state—872,794 in 2018. Harris County ranks first among the nation’s counties for…
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Many young children are now going without health insurance
Washington Post The first years of life play an outsize role in human health. They are foundational to the development of the brain and the cardiovascular, immune and metabolic systems. Early childhood is when medical interventions to correct problems in any of those areas are most likely to succeed. … So, for many health experts,…
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Future of Medicaid Work Requirements Dims After Arkansas Demo Is Struck Down Again
AIS Health A three-judge federal appeals court panel on Feb. 14 sided with a lower court and unanimously ruled that Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirements are unlawful because they don’t align with the chief objective of the Medicaid program — providing access to medical care to those who can’t afford it. … “This certainly puts a…
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Shelby County leads state in children cut from TennCare due to paperwork issues
Commercial Appeal More Shelby County kids lost their health insurance through TennCare than any other Tennessee county during 3½ years that saw more than 177,000 Tennessee kids lose insurance due to paperwork issues, according to an audit from the state comptroller’s office. … Tricia Brooks, a research professor at the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown…
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The Youngest Children Are Falling Out of Health Insurance
Pew/Stateline The first years of life play an outsize role in human health. They are foundational to the development of the brain and the cardiovascular, immune and metabolic systems. Early childhood is when medical interventions to correct problems in any of those areas are most likely to succeed. … So, for many health experts, the…
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Trump Medicaid proposal sparks bipartisan warnings
The Hill Republicans and Democrats alike are warning that a recent proposal from the Trump administration could lead to billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, forcing states to eliminate benefits, reduce enrollment or cut payments to health providers. … “I think one should view this rule not in isolation, but in combination with the…
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Trump-Backed Work-for-Medicaid Plan Is Rejected on Appeal
Bloomberg Law The Trump administration’s legal bid to restore a work requirement for Medicaid benefits in Arkansas was rejected on appeal, a blow to the government’s larger effort to reshape U.S. health-care policy. … “I think it sends a very clear signal to the Trump administration that this policy is unlawful and that they should…
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Florida House Bill Targeting Parents on Medicaid Would Cause Huge Coverage Losses
Florida’s legislature is at it again, despite a recent strong Appeals Court ruling that Medicaid work requirements are not permitted by the statute. A bill to impose the harshest Medicaid work reporting requirements in the country on very poor parents – mostly women – is moving through Florida’s House of Representatives. An identical bill passed…
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Update on Federal Surprise Billing Legislation: New Bills Contain Key Differences
In their latest post for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Point blog, Jack Hoadley, Beth Fuchs, and Kevin Lucia examine the current status of congressional efforts to protect consumers from surprise medical billing. Four committees have crafted competing proposals. While all would help ensure that consumers do not face surprise bills beyond what they would pay in…
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Advocates Fear ‘Chilling Effect’ of Public Charge Rule
Medpage Today The Trump administration’s “public charge” rule — currently in effect after Supreme Court rulings in January and last week — could have a “chilling effect” on immigrants considering signing up for Medicaid, analysts said. … However, there are facets to the rule that many immigrants aren’t aware of, according to Kelly Whitener, of…
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MACPAC Warms To Extending Coverage For Postpartum Beneficiaries
Inside Health Policy The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission signaled Thursday (Feb. 27) that it is warming up to the idea of recommending that Congress pass a bill extending Medicaid for up to one year for beneficiaries who just had a baby. However, the commission still has lingering questions about the bill’s price…
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States Testing Value-Based Payments In Medicaid Managed Care
Modern Healthcare States and Medicaid managed care organizations are experimenting with value-based payment models, but their policy choices come with difficult tradeoffs. Federal law gives states plenty of flexibility to encourage value-based payments in Medicaid managed care, but rolling out those payment reforms requires a lot of effort from states, according to new research presented…
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HIDING THE BALL: The Trump Administration’s Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver Policy has Entered a New and Dangerous Phase
Section 1115 Medicaid waivers have been the tool of choice for the Trump Administration and CMS Administrator Verma’s efforts to mold Medicaid to their wishes since Congress failed to do so in 2017. Unfortunately, their wishes include allowing states to erect barriers to coverage (such as work requirements, raising costs for beneficiaries) and a recent…
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D.C. Circuit on Medicaid Work Requirements: Read the Statute
For over two years, CMS Administrator Seema Verma has been on a crusade to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries. Her agency has approved ten state “demonstrations” of work requirements under section 1115 of the Social Security Act. When federal District Court Judge James Boasberg ruled on four separate occasions that the Secretary’s approvals of…
