Resources
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Improving Medicaid Screenings for Children: New HHS Inspector General Report Shines a Light on the Issue
In May, HHS’ Inspector General released a study that presented some pretty depressing news – almost three-quarters of children on Medicaid in nine states are not receiving all of the medical, vision and hearing examinations (the study did not look at dental) that federal law (through the Medicaid EPSDT benefit) requires. It has long been…
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Massachusetts Isn’t the Only State with Health Reform Experience
While there is much work to be done implementing the many facets of the health reform, creating the exchange marketplace(s) is one of the tasks that receives much of the attention. Not only is it a new concept to most states but, along with the expansion of Medicaid, it is the mechanism for insuring the…
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CMS Issues Long-Awaited CHIPRA Guidance
Yesterday, CMS issued two additional guidance letters related to implementation of the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009. The first of these letters is on new federal support for covering for lawfully residing children and pregnant women who have been in the country less than five years. This long-awaited guidance explains that there…
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HealthCare.gov: Not Quite Amazon Yet but an Impressive Start
Today, HHS launched a web portal designed to provide families with a central place to go for information on health care coverage in their state. The folks at HHS must have been burning the midnight oil to get this done by the July 1st deadline created by Congress. Healthcare.gov is a remarkable accomplishment in such a…
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Congress Gives States Little to Celebrate at the Fiscal New Year
By Joe Touschner When I served as an aide in the Ohio Legislature, an annual tradition was the Rockin’ Fiscal New Year’s Eve Party, held on June 30th as a way for staffers to mark the end of the state’s fiscal year (and every other year, the end of a grueling budget process). With or…
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Web Portal to Be Launched This Week
” Beam me up Scotty!” – Captain Kirk Okay Trekkies, I realize Captain Kirk didn’t utter those exact words but it is the phrase that comes to mind whenever I hear the word “web portal“ bandied about. The new health care reform web portal (you’ll be able to find it at healthcare.gov), slated for launch on…
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Maryland Leaders Getting Jumpstart on Health Reform Implementation
By Vincent DeMarco, President, Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative Education Fund,Inc. Unlike other states where the fight over federal health care reform continues, leaders in Maryland are figuring out how to make comprehensive health care a reality here at home. We want to make sure that Maryland gets every federal dollar it can under the new…
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Patients’ Bill of Rights: Long Time in the Making
(Editor’s Note: We want to welcome a new voice to our blog and hope that she’ll be a frequent contributor to Say Ahhh! Sabrina Corlette has taken over the reins from our former colleague Karen Pollitz and is our new resident expert on regulation of the private health insurance market and consumer protection issues. While…
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Where Do I Start? Key Health Reform Questions for States
Probably the most frequently asked question we get here at CCF is “what are the key decisions states need to make under health reform?” Today, we begin to answer that question through a new “starter” list of the most immediate questions state policymakers, and the child and family advocates working with them, need to ask…
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Implementing Health Care Reform: Key Questions for States
Under health care reform, the federal government is tasked with establishing the framework under which many provisions of the law are implemented. Within this framework, though, state policymakers will make many key decisions and serve as critical partners in the implementation process. States must begin planning soon for the bulk of reforms that go into…
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Patients’ Bill of Rights Offers Important Protections for Children with Special Health Needs
Today President Obama held a press conference about a number of new regulations being issued by his Administration that he says constitute a new “Patients’ Bill of Rights”. Many of these new regulations have important ramifications for children who receive coverage through the private market and in particular, children with special health care needs. In…
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Important Early Funding Opportunities for States Emerging from Health Reform
By Joe Touschner We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating–we don’t have to wait until 2014 to expand access to health coverage or to get started on reform efforts. Medicaid and CHIP coverage is already available to most of the nation’s uninsured kids (and it’s time to get them enrolled). Important benefits of the…
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Colorado Acting Boldly on Health Reform Implementation
By Gretchen Hammer, Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved and Ashlin Spinden of Metro Area for People Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. has a new health care mantra: “Because we didn’t wait for Washington, Colorado is now one of the best-positioned states in the nation to effectively implement health care reform.” Governor Ritter has made…
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What Does My Grandfather Have to Do with It? New Rules on Applying Health Reform Protections Across Health Plans
Under the health care reform law, employer health plans or those on the individual market in existence on March 23 (when the legislation was signed by President Obama) have been exempted from some, but not all, of the insurance reforms in the bill. This “grandfather” provision is a critical component of health care reform because…
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Getting it Right: State Policymakers Identify 10 Steps to Successful Implementation of Federal Health Reform
The National Academy of State Health Policy (NASHP) is an independent academy of state health policymakers working together to identify emerging issues, develop policy solutions, and improve state health policy and practice. Recently, its executive committee identified ten aspects of health reform that states must get right in order to successfully implement federal health reform.…
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PART 2 ON THE ROLE OF WAIVERS IN THE NEW WORLD: A LONG AWAITED VICTORY – MORE TRANSPARENCY!!
So as Part 1 described it is a little hard to predict what the role of waivers will be in the new world. But one thing we do know is that more standards regarding transparency and public participation are coming our way. And they are coming soon – one of the first things out of…
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THE ROLE OF WAIVERS IN A NEW HEALTH REFORM WORLD (PART 1)
One of the many questions I have asked myself since passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is what the role of Section 1115 waivers will be come 2014 when the major provisions of PPACA are implemented. In the past, Section 1115 waivers have sometimes been used to expand coverage to groups previously…
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Alaska Legislature Says “Yes” to Covering More Children; Governor Says “No”
Late this spring, the Alaska legislature overwhelmingly passed an expansion of Denali KidCare (Alaska’s CHIP program), from 175% to 200% of the FPL, a policy that Governor Parnell had indicated support for earlier this year, but switched directions on last week. Currently, Alaska is one of only three states that still doesn’t cover children at…
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New Final Cost Sharing Rule Contains Notable Improvements (Hint: Save the shoeboxes for school projects)
By Jocelyn Guyer Last week, CMS issued a final rule on the premiums and cost-sharing that states can charge Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries in light of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and cost-sharing provisions relating to Native Americans included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This rule has been kicking around…
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Health Reform Eases Prohibition of Enrolling State Employee Kids in CHIP
I’m all for light meals but the smorgasbord offered by the health reform law is something we need to make reform meaningful and to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care. Whether you go straight to the entrees (the Medicaid expansion or subsidized coverage through exchanges) or nibble on the appetizers (no…