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Children without health insurance on rise in Volusia, Flagler and Florida
Daytona Beach News-Journal By: Nikki Ross When Kristina Marty moved to Daytona Beach in 2017 from Rhode Island, she had no idea her decision would cost her four children their free health insurance. … The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families in November issued a report that showed about 325,000 uninsured children in Florida…
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Kemp’s health care ‘waiver’ bill passes Georgia Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution By: Ariel Hart A bill to allow the governor to design “waivers” that may expand access to health insurance for poor and middle-class Georgians passed the state Senate on Tuesday. … The other is the hiccup for the poor who fall between 100 percent and 138 percent of the poverty level. They…
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It’s Time to Focus on the Future of Children’s Health Coverage
With the bad news that the nation’s uninsured rate for children went in the wrong direction for the first time in nearly a decade, it’s time for kid’s health to get back to the top of the agenda for policymakers. Here at CCF, we’re reinvigorating a project we started a few years ago that aims…
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Uninsured Children in the United States
Researchers at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families publish this report annually. 2018 Nation’s Progress on Children’s Health Coverage Reverses Course 2017 Nationwide Rate of Uninsured Children Reaches Historic Low 2016 Children’s Health Coverage Rate Now at Historic High of 95 Percent 2015 ACA Helps Bring Child Uninsured Rate Down To New Record…
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Designed to Fail: Utah Republicans’ Backdoor Repeal of Voter-Approved Medicaid Expansion
Rewire News By: Adam Searing In November 2018, a majority of voters in Utah passed a Medicaid expansion ballot initiative providing Medicaid coverage to low-income people. The state’s GOP-held legislature, unhappy with the ballot results, this month overturned the robust expansion. Voters in November also approved a minuscule (0.15 percent) sales tax to pay for…
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Pass. Repeal. Repeat: The GOP Cycle of Defying Voters on Medicaid Expansion
Governing By: Mattie Quinn In the first several years after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) helped states make more low-income people eligible for Medicaid, it was only Democratic-led states that took the federal government up on its offer. Republicans have since warmed to the idea — but only on their own terms, and sometimes even…
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N.H. Medicaid bid winner AmeriHealth has rocky history in Iowa
Concord Monitor By: Caitlin Andrews A company facing scrutiny for its abrupt departure from managing Iowa’s Medicaid system is one of the three private organizations chosen by New Hampshire to manage the care of 180,000 Granite Staters. … Health care policy experts say the blame doesn’t just fall on AmeriHealth. Kelly Whitener, an associate professor…
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First Round of Arkansas 2019 Medicaid Data Shows More Coverage Losses Are on the Way
Last week, the state of Arkansas released its latest round of data on implementation of its Medicaid work reporting requirement – the first in the country to be implemented. As readers of SayAhhh! know, over 18,000 lost coverage in 2018 as a result of not complying with the new reporting rules. And the policy is…
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Can California Beat The Federal Government In Lowering Drug Prices?
Kaiser Health News By: Samantha Young California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’s done waiting for the federal government to curtail the rising cost of prescription drugs. Newsom has his own plan to ease that financial burden — one he hopes other states can join or replicate. … In the absence of federal action, states have…
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CMS Administrator Ignores Congressional Advisory Committee Recommendation
In 2009, Congress created the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) to advise it on coverage for low-income Americans through Medicaid and CHIP. One of MACPAC’s statutory responsibilities is to “review and assess…Medicaid and CHIP eligibility policies, including a determination of the degree to which federal and state policies provide health care coverage…
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Designed to Fail: Utah’s Backdoor Repeal of Voter-Approved Medicaid Expansion
In November 2018, a majority of voters in Utah passed a Medicaid expansion ballot initiative providing Medicaid health coverage to low-income parents and other adults. For example, a family of three with an annual income of less than $29,435/year would be eligible. Voters also approved a very small (0.15 percent) sales tax to pay for…
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Top 10 Rural Counties Where Kids Rely on Medicaid for Health Coverage
As readers of SayAhhh! know, Georgetown University CCF and the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Rural Health Research Center has a joint project which has been tracking the role of Medicaid for rural areas and small towns. We recently updated our online data resource with county figures for 2015/2016, a time period during which the impact…
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Other states likely to follow Utah’s partial Medicaid expansion
Modern Healthcare By: Harris Meyer The Utah Legislature on Monday passed a bill to replace the voter-approved Medicaid expansion with a skinny expansion, a move that may encourage other states to seek similar scaled-back expansions with full federal funding. The Republican-controlled Utah Senate approved legislation passed by the state House of Representatives Friday that replaces the voter-passed…
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Utah’s Novel Plan For Medicaid Expansion Opens Door To Spending Caps Sought By GOP
Kaiser Health News By: Phil Galewitz Utah this week became the 35th state to approve expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, but advocates for the poor worry its unusual financing could set a dangerous precedent and lead to millions of people losing coverage across the country. … Those restrictions would be a radical change for…
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Clearing Up Confusion about the Medicaid Rebate Program: Part III
As federal efforts to address prescription drug costs intensifies, this three-part blog series addresses misleading claims or confusion about Medicaid, its highly effective drug rebate program and overall drug pricing issues in the hopes of better informing the debate moving forward. Part I | Part II Medicaid’s best price requirement is not the reason why…
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CMS Innovation Center releases anticipated funding opportunities focused on children: Will your state apply?
Say Ahhh! readers are familiar with one of our biggest concerns about health care payment and delivery system reforms: Kids, relatively inexpensive to begin with, are often overlooked and rarely the explicit focus. It’s hard to make improvements to health care for children and youth without payment or delivery system changes. And testing new reforms…
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A Troubling Sign: Half a Million Fewer Kids Covered by Medicaid and CHIP in 2018
Recent news of declines in enrollment in Medicaid, the growth in uninsured children and troubles with new eligibility systems in several states prompted me to take a closer look at the recently updated October 2018 Medicaid and CHIP enrollment numbers posted by CMS. As we had feared, the data shows that in the first ten…
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Clearing Up Confusion about the Medicaid Rebate Program: Part II
As federal efforts to address prescription drug costs intensifies, this three-part blog series addresses misleading claims or confusion about Medicaid, its highly effective drug rebate program and overall drug pricing issues in the hopes of better informing the debate moving forward. Part I | Part III Aggressive negotiation and closed formularies are only one factor in…
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Clearing Up Confusion about the Medicaid Rebate Program: Part I
As federal efforts to address prescription drug costs intensify, this three-part blog series addresses misleading claims or confusion about Medicaid, its highly effective drug rebate program and overall drug pricing issues in the hopes of better informing the debate moving forward. Part II | Part III In response to federal Medicaid rebate increases, drug manufacturers would…
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Thousands lose coverage from Medicaid work requirements: New procedures causing confusion
The Nation’s Health By: Kim Krisberg In January 2018, federal officials released guidance on instituting Medicaid work requirements — an unprecedented move for the low-income health program. A year later, work requirements are pending or approved in more than a dozen states, advocates are fighting the rules in court and thousands have lost health coverage.…
