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Final Marketplace Data For 2019; CMS Extends ‘Grandmothered’ Policies Again
Health Affairs Blog By: Katie Keith Although enrollment through the ACA marketplaces remained stable for 2019, recent studies suggest that the uninsured rate may be rising. A recent Gallup poll found that the uninsured rate increased by 2.8 percentage points from 2016 to 2018, representing about 7 million uninsured adults. Federal surveys have shown that…
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Federal Judge Again Blocks States’ Work Requirements For Medicaid
NPR WAMU 88.5 By: Phli Galewitz For a second time in nine months, the same federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s plan to force some Medicaid recipients to work to maintain benefits. … Critics of the work policy hailed the latest ruling, which many expected since Boasberg last June stopped Kentucky from moving ahead…
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The Health 202: Trump administration undermines anti-opioid efforts by opposing Obamacare
The Washington Post By: Paige Winfield Cunningham A federal judge has thrown a wrench in the Trump administration’s efforts to impose work requirements on low-income people on Medicaid, blocking the work programs in Kentucky and Arkansas. … In statement, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called the ruling a…
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Judge Blocks Arkansas and Kentucky Medicaid Work Requirement Waivers: What Does This Decision Mean for Other States?
Under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), federal agencies may not take actions that are “arbitrary or capricious.” If they do, federal courts are instructed to hold the action unlawful and set it aside. Late yesterday afternoon, that’s exactly what Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia did with…
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Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, and Cost Sharing Policies as of January 2019: Findings from a 50-State Survey
Executive Summary This 17th annual survey of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) provides data on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost sharing policies as of January 2019. It is based on a telephone survey of state Medicaid and CHIP officials conducted by the Kaiser…
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Hot Off the Press: Annual KFF 50-State Survey on Medicaid
This 17th annual KFF survey and key resource for Medicaid stakeholders reports eligibility, enrollment, renewal and cost-sharing policies in place as of January 2019 for children, pregnant women, parent/caretakers, and low-income adults in Medicaid and CHIP. Like the previous year, for the most part states continued to refine their efforts in delivering a streamlined, data-driven…
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Harnessing Medicaid Payment Reform to Improve Child Health
Child health stakeholders have eagerly followed the progress in New York State’s First 1,000 Days Initiative aimed at using value-based purchasing (VBP) in Medicaid to assure a healthy start and school readiness. Now, the United Hospital Fund (UHF) – the backbone of New York’s effort – has published a brief that explores the context and…
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Florida House Committee Approves Bill to Impose Harsh Medicaid Rules on Low-Income Parents
A Florida House Committee recently (3/13) approved HB 955, on a party line vote, a bill that would authorize the Governor to seek a Section 1115 Medicaid waiver to impose likely the most punitive work reporting requirements in the nation on very poor parents receiving their health coverage through Medicaid. Because Florida has not expanded…
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Study cited in Wisconsin debate on expanding Medicaid and taking federal money called ‘garbage’
Journal Sentinel By: Guy Boulton Lost in the ongoing debate over whether Wisconsin should expand eligibility for Medicaid — and accept roughly $184.9 million a year in federal dollars for doing so — is one small detail: Former Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature already expanded the Medicaid program. … Finally, there’s the debate over the…
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Red States Seek to Remake Medicaid
The Wall Street Journal By: Stephanie Armour Republican-led states are stepping up their efforts with the Trump administration to pursue work requirements and other changes to Medicaid, in the face of legal challenges and Democratic opposition. Tennessee Republicans want permission to revamp Medicaid in exchange for a fixed amount from the federal government. Utah is…
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Trump officials take bold steps on Medicaid
The Hill By: Nathaniel Weixel The Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to encourage red states to make conservative changes to Medicaid without congressional input. Administration officials are pushing ahead and granting approvals to states seeking to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, even in the face of legal challenges and large-scale losses…
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How Would Utah’s Medicaid Partial Expansion Waiver Break New Ground if Approved
Utah’s legislature recently passed a bill which rolled back the Medicaid expansion passed by the voters in November and substituted a much weaker replacement. With the Governor planning to start enrollment on April 1st into the more limited version, we expect some action by CMS on Utah’s pending Medicaid Section 1115 proposal in the next…
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CCF Comments to Administration’s Harmful Rebate Safe Harbor Rule
We submitted comments to the Trump Administration’s proposed regulation to eliminate the safe harbor in the federal anti-kickback law for rebates negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) on behalf of Medicaid managed care plans (and Medicare Part D plans). As we have previously written, the proposed regulation raises serious concerns because it would likely…
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More News on T-MSIS – Medicaid’s Transformed Statistical Information System
Say Ahhh! readers know I’ve been following the development of CMS’ new Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) for…well…years. The last news we got on T-MSIS was last August when CMS released a State Health Officer Letter detailing its top 12 priorities for states, which I summarized in this blog. Recently, CMS issued a new…
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2019 Medicaid and CHIP Snapshot Data Sources
Name of CHIP Program Kaiser Family Foundation, CHIP Program Name and Type, State Health Facts (as of May 1, 2015). Please note that effective 2013 the former California CHIP program,California Healthy Families Program has been converted into Medi-Cal. Type of CHIP Program Kaiser Family Foundation, CHIP Program Name and Type, State Health Facts (as of May 1, 2015). Number…
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Evaluating the Administration’s Narrative on Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements
It turns out that last week was Never Mind Week. Who would have guessed? On Monday the Administration released its “Budget for a Better America,” proposing to cut federal Medicaid spending by nearly $1.5 trillion (with a “t”) over the next ten years. These cuts included a mandate that state Medicaid programs require that “able-bodied,…
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Four Steps to Improve Children’s Oral Health Care in Medicaid and CHIP
Our partners at the Children’s Dental Health Project (CDHP) released a great report recently called, “Medicaid Dental Guidance to States: An Opportunity to Aim for Equity,” highlighting how states, managed care organizations (MCOs), providers, and advocates can work to improve dental care for children covered by Medicaid and CHIP. The report draws from CMS guidance…
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Early Childhood
A child’s brain develops most rapidly in the earliest years of life, building the foundation for learning, behavior and health. Medicaid, along with CHIP, serves four out of five young children in low-income families, serving as a logical place to reach these children and their families before kindergarten. Prioritizing young children and their families in…
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Many Unanswered Questions about Trump Budget’s CHIP Financing Proposal
The Trump Administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget, released on March 11, includes a single legislative proposal (described here) related to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Entitled “Strengthen the CHIP Safety Net for States,” the proposal would eliminate the CHIP’s Child Enrollment Contingency Fund in fiscal year 2021 and replace it with a new Shortfall…
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Alex Azar’s confusing claim on Medicaid work requirements
Politico By: Dan Diamond What advocates counter: There are open questions about the effects of work requirements, with officials yesterday struggling to make the case in court and CMS putting out new guidance on how states should collect information. (More on that below.) “They have absolutely no idea what happened to the 18,000,” said Joan…
