Resources
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Divide & Conquer: NC Speaker of House Tries to Pit Medicaid Beneficiaries Against One Another
By Adam Searing, North Carolina Justice Center Usually the North Carolina Speaker of the House, Thom Tillis, presents himself as a moderate, business-friendly Republican. Even as his party has enacted the largest cuts in the history of NC’s Medicaid program, he’s managed to keep the focus at local meetings around the state where he has…
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Farewell to Lisa – an Incredible Advocate and Colleague
Yesterday Jocelyn Guyer and I attended the funeral of one of our national colleagues, Lisa Codispoti, from the National Women’s Law Center. Lisa was an incredibly dedicated, smart and funny advocate who worked for many years at SEIU prior to joining NWLC’s staff – always fighting tirelessly for health coverage. As you will see from…
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IOM Report Starts Process of Defining Essential Health Benefits
By Joe Touschner The Affordable Care Act will bring health coverage within reach for millions of uninsured people. The law, though, doesn’t answer the question of exactly what that coverage will look like–that is, what benefits it will cover. The law charges the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to define an…
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Health Exchanges: Federal, State, or a Partnership?
(This blog originally appeared in the Health Policy Hub.) By Christine Barber, Community Catalyst Federal or state Exchange? The question of who should run the marketplace for individuals and small businesses to shop for and buy affordable, high quality insurance has been an ongoing debate in health reform circles for a number of years. And a main…
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Together, Let’s #PutKids1st
By: O. Marion Burton, MD, FAAP, President, American Academy of Pediatrics The Budget Control Act of 2011 (Public Law 112-25), passed by Congress in August to raise the national $14.3 debt ceiling through 2012, called for the establishment of a 12-member, bipartisan Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (JSC) to address the country’s long-term…
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How Has Arizona’s CHIP Enrollment Freeze Impacted Kids?
The state of Arizona was hit especially hard by the recession and responded by imposing the largest spending cuts in the state’s history. Among these was a freeze in KidsCare, the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Arizona remains the only state with an enrollment freeze in place and a new report we just released…
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Exchange I Reg Deadline Extended to October 31
Have you been frantically putting the finishing touches on your comments to the Exchange I regulations to meet tomorrow’s deadline? Or did you decide to forego submitting comments due to the quick turnaround time initially established by CMS? Either way, we have good news for you – your deadline has just been extended to October 31! To…
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Kaiser Survey Finds Health Insurance Premiums Continue to Increase
As has happened every year in recent memory, annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health care coverage increased according to the annual Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2011 Employer Health Benefits Survey released today. This year, annual premiums hit an average of $15,073 – an increase of 9 percent over last year. On average, workers pay $4,129 and…
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Let’s Make “SHOP” Work Well for Small Businesses and Families
By Dinah Wiley, CCF Consultant Small business owners and entrepreneurs will have better access to affordable health care plans for themselves and their employees once the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) provision of the Affordable Care Act is up and running. This is a great innovation for small businesses as they can pool with…
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Hard Work Pays Off for “Waiver Watchers”
By Wesley Prater A number of states looking to save money in their Medicaid programs are asking the federal government for Section 1115 Research and Demonstration waivers — in some cases asking for federal protection that preserve their coverage for children and families to be loosened. However, recently three states – New Jersey, Texas, and…
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We Owe our Children More than a Fiscally Sound Nation
By Bruce Lesley, First Focus As the 12 members of the Congressional Super Committee begin their work, it’s important to remember that in this country, we don’t kick people when they’re down, particularly children. Millions of American children face the daily possibility that they won’t have enough food to eat or the supplies needed for…
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State Level Data Now Available on a Census Website Near You
By Tara Mancini Say Ahhh! readers will recall that just last week the Census Bureau released the 2010 estimates for the Current Population Survey (CPS). As the official source for poverty statistics in the United States, the 2010 CPS detailed the drastic rise of poverty and the continued decline of median household income. While the CPS…
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High Uninsurance Rate Impacts Access & Quality of Care in Community
We all intuitively know communities are better off when residents have access to health care coverage and a new report sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides us with even more data to back up that point. The report found that a high rate of uninsurance in a community has a spillover effect for…
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President Obama Unveils Deficit Reduction Plan
Yesterday, President Obama unveiled “Living Within Our Means and Investing in the Future”, a detailed plan that includes $3 trillion in net deficit reduction over ten years. In general, the President’s plan is a balanced and fair approach to deficit reduction. In releasing the package, he sent a stern warning to Congress that he would…
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Let’s Make the Exchanges More Welcoming to All Children and Families
By Dinah Wiley, CCF Consultant Earlier this year, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas revealed that he is an “undocumented immigrant”. His mother had sent him from the Philippines to the U.S. at age 12 because she wanted him to have a better life. He was fortunate to have American grandparents and a support network, or…
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Common Sense Standards Would Help Exchanges Be Consumer Friendly
By Joe Touschner The Affordable Insurance Exchanges, as envisioned by the Affordable Care Act, have great potential to help children and families secure quality health coverage that is competitively priced and supported by federal tax credits for those who qualify. As Say Ahhh! readers know, states will operate exchanges under guidelines set by the federal…
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Support for Medicaid Growing
The Super Committee met in private today so it’s anybody’s guess as to what they discussed. I sure hope the committee members had a chance to read the latest Bloomberg National poll before the meeting. The poll found that Medicaid is the least popular option for deficit reduction. Members of the Super Committee have to…
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Census Data Provide Disturbing Snapshot of Economy’s Toll on Children and Families
Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families Co-Director Joan Alker issued the following statement in response to the release of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States (2010) report: “The census data released today provided a very disturbing snapshot of the economic…
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Census Data Released: A Few Data Notes
By Martha Heberlein As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, the Current Population Survey (CPS) was released today. (Not a whole lot of happy news in there – check out Joan’s statement for details.) Before you start digging in too deeply, we wanted to flag a few things about the data: State-by-State Data – Everyone…
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Rising Health Care Costs, Rising Underinsurance
By Martha Heberlein Two studies just out in the September issue of Health Affairs highlight the troubles many face in affording health care coverage. The first study by researchers at the Commonwealth Fund found that over the past 7 years the number of people who had coverage year-round, but were considered “underinsured” rose by 80%. (The authors…