Resources
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Medicaid is the MVP of Children’s Health
By Jocelyn Guyer As I try to wrap my mind around the suggestion that CHIP’s success is a reason to convert Medicaid to a capped block grant, I wonder whether these guys have ever watched soccer or any team sport for that matter. Maybe I spent a little too much time on the soccer sidelines…
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A Win for Colorado Kids – Decrease in the Number of Uninsured
By Brittney Petersen, Colorado Community Health Network Amidst what is a fairly bleak time for states trying to expand coverage for kids, there is encouraging news that more kids are getting health coverage in Colorado. Two recent reports demonstrate a significant decline in the number of uninsured kids in Colorado between 2008 and 2009. The…
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Senate Majority Leader Shares his Views on Medicaid & CHIP
By Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader Having grown up in a family that could not afford health care, I know how difficult it can be to go to a doctor when you need one. That’s one of the reasons I worked on health insurance reform. No person in the United States should go without care…
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WI Premium Increase Proposal Would Not Achieve Real Savings
By Wesley Prater A couple of months ago, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin introduced his biennium budget for 2011-13 which consisted of cuts of nearly $500 million to Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Plus, the state’s Medicaid program. Additionally, the Governor’s Budget Repair Bill (yes, that same bill that would undermine collective bargaining rights) would give Wisconsin’s Department…
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Three States Move to Next Phase of Building their Health Benefits Exchanges
This week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded the first round of grants to help states establish health insurance exchanges. State officials in Washington, Indiana and Rhode Island were granted a total of $35 million to begin building their exchanges. In announcing the grants HHS said that the states “will use the…
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Public Support for Medicaid Similar to Medicare and Social Security
Opposition to cutting Medicare has dominated the news and public debate in recent weeks but a new poll by Kaiser shows Americans are equally resistant to changes in Medicaid. The Kaiser monthly tracking poll found that 60% of Americans like Medicaid the way it is. Public support for Medicaid was similar to that of Medicare and Social…
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The Impact of Premiums on Families in BadgerCare Plus
As Wisconsin considers increasing premiums in its Medicaid program,BadgerCare Plus, CCF researchers examined the impact of premiums on families in Wisconsin’s Medicaid program. In this policy brief, they look at the effect on participation in the program if premiums were increased or added for families between 100 and 200% of the FPL in BadgerCare Plus…
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Affordable Care Act Protecting Consumers from Premium Spikes
Health insurance premiums and gas prices have one thing in common – they are both rising at a time when oil and insurance companies are earning record profits. Most of us can figure out ways to cutback on our energy consumption to reduce our expenditures at the gas pump but cutting back on health care…
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Utah Improves Timeliness and Reduces Cost with E-Communications
In these days of tight budgets, states are looking for every single penny they can save. Our friends in Utah are saving more than a few – 52¢ to be exact – every time they send an electronic notice to someone enrolled in Medicaid. This is one of those win-win strategies where saving money also…
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Vermont’s Green Mountain Care Puts State on Path to Universal Coverage
By Donna Sutton Fay, Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security Education Fund Vermont has been successful in incrementally expanding its public health insurance programs for the past twenty-five years. Subsidized coverage is available to children and uninsured adults with incomes up to 300% of the FPL. We have one of the lowest rates of uninsured…
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Arkansas Lawmakers Ensure Kids Keep Coverage as Private Plans Leave the State
By Elisabeth Wright Burak, Arkansas Advocates The legislative session in Arkansas ended last month with many accomplishments for kids’ health on the books. We spend a lot of time talking about measures to improve access to ARKids First and promising new oral health accomplishments, including better availability of fluoridated water and preventive dental services. …
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Rhode Island Waiver – Model or Sweetheart Deal?
Proponents of block granting Medicaid have been pointing to Rhode Island’s Section 1115 research and demonstration waiver that includes a global cap on federal spending as evidence of the success of this approach. But as an article that appears in yesterday’s New York Times underscores, this analogy is just another example of the “fact free”…
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Health Subcommittee Passes Repeal of Medicaid/CHIP Stability Protections (MoE)
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health took the first step toward unraveling the remarkable success our nation has achieved in connecting kids with coverage and driving uninsurance rates for children down to a historic low. Today the Subcommittee approved “The State Flexibility Act” (H.R. 1683), a bill introduced by Representative Gingrey (R-GA) that…
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CBO Says: Half of States Likely to Eliminate CHIP if MoE is Repealed
By Jocelyn Guyer On the eve of today’s mark up in the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, CBO released a more detailed cost estimate of H.R. 1683, the bill to repeal the Medicaid and CHIP stability protections (aka, “maintenace-of-effort requirements”). It highlights that the debate over the future of the stability protections is…
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You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure
By Joe Touschner We’ve all heard the observation that putting a Medicaid or CHIP card in a parent’s hand doesn’t necessarily mean that a child will get all the health care he or she needs–many of us have probably said it ourselves. For coverage to translate to care, kids and parents need access to the…
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Keeping Up with the California Health Benefit Exchange Board: Starting Off On the Fast Track
By Nicette Short of Children Now and Kathleen Hamilton of The Children’s Partnership California’s Health Benefit Exchange Board, created under the Affordable Care Act, held its inaugural meeting on April 20, 2011 in Sacramento, California. Even with one of the five Board seats vacant (the California Senate has not yet selected its appointee), the California…
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Presumptive Eligibility Connects Kids (and Others) to Coverage
Over most of the two decades I’ve been working on children’s coverage, it was generally believed that sustaining an uninsurance rate among children of less than 5% was unlikely. Several states came close, hovering just above or below 5%, but still, the notion lingered. That is, until Massachusetts solidly broke the 5% barrier and can…
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Mississippi’s Interview Requirement Reduces Government Efficiency & Disconnects People from Coverage
By Wesley Prater Born and raised in Mississippi, I’ve always heard that Mississippians are “first in the worst” and “last in the best.” Unfortunately, Mississippi’s enrollment and renewal practices for children in Medicaid and CHIP put us in the running for worst in the government efficiency competition and reinforce those views about my home state. …
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Legislative Week in Review
There are a lot of bad ideas floating around Congress that could harm children and families who rely upon Medicaid or CHIP to meet their health care needs. Here are the highlights of what happened on the hill this week on various proposals that would undermine the stability of Medicaid and CHIP coverage. Senate Finance…
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Oklahoma Makes U-Turn and Rejects Early Innovator Grant
By David Blatt, Director of Oklahoma Policy Institute In the new national health care law (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA), exchanges are state-level competitive marketplaces for individuals and small businesses to purchase insurance. After winning a $54 million Early Innovator grant earlier this year, Oklahoma was poised to become a national leader with a…