Resources
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KidsWell Campaign Launches Online Resource for Health Reform Implementation
By Kimberley Chin, Programme Executive, Atlantic Philanthropies State advocates face enormous challenges–shrinking resources, entrenched politics, an often disinterested press. Yet somehow, we manage to get it done.Just about every major federal policy initiative begins and ends at the state.It was the states that conceived of what became CHIP, launched the first health benefit exchanges with…
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Saving Money, Saving Lives: Maryland Paves the Way on Payment Reform
As policymakers across the country look to balance their budgets, some are turning to Medicaid, recycling the same harmful policies they’ve used year-after-year: eliminating coverage for vulnerable Americans, restricting critical benefits like prescription drug coverage, imposing premiums on those who can’t afford them, and slashing already-low provider reimbursement rates. Community Catalyst and Georgetown University Health…
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Senator Rockefeller Writes Against Repeal of the Stability Protections
By Jocelyn Guyer Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) sent a letter to his colleague Senator Hatch (R-UT) last week outlining his grave concerns about Hatch’s recently introduced bill to repeal the stability protections (“or maintenance-of-effort requirement”) in Medicaid and CHIP. The letter — the latest in a series of Rockefeller efforts to protect health programs for low-income people…
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A Disappointing Rollback of Consumer Protections on Appeals
Imagine you’re a parent and your child has been diagnosed with cancer and is going through painful, debilitating treatment. You can imagine the sleepless nights, the worry, the exhaustion, the fear. Now imagine that your insurance company denies some of the claims for your child’s treatment – treatment that the doctors assure you are essential…
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Finance Committee Holds Hearing on Medicaid and Medicare
By Martha Heberlein As negotiations stalled on addressing the debt ceiling and ongoing budget deficits, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing today on the long-term sustainability of Medicare and Medicaid. While much of the focus was on Medicare, Medicaid also played a prominent role, especially around proposals to block grant the program. In response…
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Study Highlights Importance of Improved Medicaid Program
By John Bouman, Sargent Shriver Center on Poverty Law On June 17, Dr. Karin Rhodes and her colleague Joanna Bisgaier of the University of Pennsylvania released a report on access to subspecialty doctors by children covered by Medicaid in Cook County, Illinois. The authors also published an article about the study underlying the report in…
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Gov Hickenlooper’s Veto of Premiums is Win for CO Kids and Families.
By Elisabeth Arenelas, Colorado Center on Law and Policy Thanks to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper for his veto of a bill (Senate Bill 11-213) that would have required monthly premiums for certain children participating in Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+), Colorado’s version of the Child Health Insurance Plan. Coverage to this particular group was expanded…
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Republican Governors’ Letter Calls for More Cost-Shifting to States and Local Governments
In a letter to members of Congress outlining their guiding principles for how Medicaid should be changed in to order to address the challenges states are facing in sustaining their programs, Republican governors echoed earlier calls for block grants and more flexibility in how they run their programs along with repeal of the health care…
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Massive Declines in Enrollment Predicted Under a Medicaid Block Grant
By Martha Heberlein A recent study from the folks at the Urban Institute provides state-by-state enrollment projections under the House budget plan. I don’t think any regular Say Ahhh! readers will be surprised to learn that the news isn’t good. Under the plan, there will be a 44% reduction in federal Medicaid funds, including spending…
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Exchange Implementation Work Underway Across the Country
By Joe Touschner Don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper — while the national media has reported that states are moving “gingerly” to implement the Affordable Care Act, in fact there’s been a great deal of activity of late, especially around exchanges. No fewer than 16 state legislatures have acted favorably on measures that…
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Keeping on Track: The California Health Benefit Exchange (HBEX) Continues to Move Along
By Kathleen Hamilton (The Children’s Partnership) Nicette Short (Children Now) on behalf of the 100% Campaign California’s Health Benefit Exchange – now commonly known as HBEX – continued to press on with its work in a fast-paced manner and held two meetings in May, with another to be held tomorrow. The HBEX Board demonstrated its…
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It Can Be Complicated to Be A Kid
By Martha Heberlein Health reform creates many new options for children and families to secure coverage; however, as more options become available, children may face more complex coverage arrangements. In fact, recent estimates suggest that 20 million children live in situations that may make accessing coverage challenging due to differing eligibility status within their families. As…
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Senators Stand Shoulder-to-Shoulder to Defend Medicaid
Yesterday, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) announced that 41 senators would stand strong and support Medicaid during the ongoing budget deficit and debt ceiling negotiations. This is welcome news given the increased focus on Medicaid lately as the potential source of savings to rein in the deficit and cut a deal on the debt ceiling. All…
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Once Again, a Look at the State Budget Facts
By Martha Heberlein It seems that every time the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) releases a new report on the state of state budgets, another blog or paper is written to correct a misrepresentation of Medicaid’s role. Now, this is certainly not meant to be disparaging against NASBO – their reports are a…
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Capping Federal Spending Imperils Success on Kids Health
By Joe Touschner Some think that a good way to address federal deficits is to establish a cap on federal spending. A cap is needed, they say, to preserve the prosperity of future generations (i.e. today’s children). And a cap sounds like a simple and effective way to address the nation’s deficit. While politicians seem…
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Family-to-Family Organizations Provide Vital Support to Children with Special Health Care Needs
The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced $4.9 million in new funding to support families of children with special health care needs. The funding for the grants was made available through the new health reform law. Grants were awarded to state Family-to-Family Health Centers. For some of these groups, this is new funding…
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Florida Medicaid Transformation: Bad Policy & Bad Politics
Governor Rick Scott has now officially set in motion an ill-advised transformation of Florida’s Medicaid program that will place the health care of most Florida Medicaid beneficiaries into the hands of for-profit companies. The new law expands a managed care pilot program operating in five counties under a Section 1115 federal waiver. In moving ahead…
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Proposed Federal Spending Caps Threaten Successful Efforts on Children’s Health
Lawmakers in the House and Senate have proposed budget plans to address the federal deficit by capping spending, making deep cuts in Medicaid, and/or restructuring the way the nation finances health care for children, seniors, and people with disabilities. These budget plans will devastate the successful steps the nation has taken to provide quality, affordable…
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Obama Administration Opposes Medicaid Enrollees’ Access to Court
By Jane Perkins, Legal Director, National Health Law Program The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear Douglas v. Independent Living Center, a group of cases addressing whether Medicaid-participating providers and enrollees may enforce the Medicaid provider payment provision, 42 U.S.C. § 1396a(a)(30)(A), in court. Among other things, Section (30)(A) requires states to establish payments…
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Out of the Shadows: Exchange/Medicaid IT 2.0 Guidance Says No Need for Duplicate Eligibility Systems
In this week’s release of the Exchange/Medicaid IT 2.0 guidance, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) firmly squashed speculation that states will need to operate a “shadow eligibility system” for determining who is newly eligible for Medicaid and therefore qualifies for 100% federal funding. Future federal rulemaking is expected to propose other methods…