Blog
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New Report Shows How States Can Leverage School Medicaid Programs to Protect K-12 Education Funding
A new report from the Urban Institute details the difficult situation state lawmakers and executive leaders will face as they grapple with the loss of federal funding due to HR 1, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” that was signed into law July 4, 2025. While the law did not directly cut…
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2026 Report on State Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, and Renewal Policies Includes Special Edition on Medicaid Work Requirements
Yesterday, the annual KFF survey report was released with a webinar featuring highlights of two reports and a discussion that included Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, and was moderated by KFF’s Larry Levitt. The webinar and reports contain important information that should be of interest to policymakers, stakeholders, members…
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Rural Hospitals and Communities Feeling Impact of H.R. 1 Medicaid Cuts, Rural Health Fund Falls Short
More stories have been published across the country in recent weeks detailing how the federal cuts to health care passed last year by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in H.R. 1, “The One Big Beautiful Bill”, are affecting communities. One emerging theme is that the Rural Health Transformation Fund – a $50…
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Governors and State Medicaid Directors Get a New Assignment from Dr. Oz: Quickly Recertify “High-Risk” Providers
On April 23, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz sent a letter to all 50 Governors calling upon their Medicaid programs to “undertake a swift revalidation of Medicaid providers of services at high risk of waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption.” In the letter he requests that the Governor notify CMS within 10 business days (May 7)…
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Congress Wanted to Protect People Living in Areas with High Unemployment from Losing Health Care Due to Work Reporting Requirements. Will it Actually Happen?
During the Congressional debate about the passage of H.R. 1, many concerns were raised about the adoption of a mandatory work reporting requirement for people covered by Medicaid expansion – including the risks of people living in areas with high unemployment losing health coverage despite their best efforts to find work. In response, statutory language…
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Louisiana Loses a Formidable Child Health and Medicaid Champion in Ruth Kennedy
A few weeks ago, I learned that our friend, Ruth Kennedy, former LaCHIP and Medicaid Director in Louisiana, had passed away. I met Ruth back in the early 2000’s when we were both CHIP directors and participated in the Covering Kids and Covering Kids and Families grant programs funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.…
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States Work to Prevent Fraud Against Medicaid, Administration Uses Fraud to Attack Program
The first three months of 2026 have witnessed an unprecedented series of fiscal and rhetorical attacks on states by the White House and the political leadership at CMS, ostensibly about fraud against Medicaid. The focal point of these attacks has been Minnesota. On January 6, CMS notified the Governor of Minnesota that his state was out…
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New ACIP Charter Signals Possible Change in Priorities for Committee
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has renewed the charter for its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), retroactively effective to April 1, 2026. This two-year renewal is not unexpected, as HHS provided a notice of charter renewal in the Federal Register earlier this month, but several changes to the charter language provide…
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States Rely on Adequate Funds from Title V MCH Block Grant to Address Maternal and Child Health Needs
The Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant is a federal-state partnership focused on improving the health of women, children, and families. Originally enacted in 1935, Title V of the Social Security Act authorizes federal funding for programs and projects to improve the health of mothers and children across the country. Since 1981,…
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Rooted in Justice and Joy: What Black Maternal Health Demands of Us Right Now
This week marks the 10th annual Black Maternal Health Week led by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA). The theme, Rooted in Justice and Joy, honors a decade of movement-building by Black-led organizations while also naming the systemic forces –systemic oppression, reproductive injustices, and health inequities— that continue to threaten the lives of Black Mamas.…
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Long-Standing State-Based Efforts to Combat Fraud Against Medicaid Continue to Improve
CMS Administrator Dr. Oz has been on a veritable press tour trumpeting the supposed rampant fraud in Medicaid and other government programs, which nationally he claims could add up to as much as $100 billion, presumably in a single year – though he hasn’t specified a timeframe. The White House recently established the Task Force…
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CMS Weaponizes Fraud Against Medicaid in Minnesota: The District Court Rules
On April 6, U.S. District Court Judge Eric Tostrud issued a decision in Minnesota v. Oz. The case was triggered by CMS’s deferral of $259 million in federal matching funds from the Minnesota Medicaid program on February 25. In response, the State filed suit on March 2 asking the court to block the CMS action…
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The Supreme Court’s Birthright Citizenship Decision Could Dramatically Impact Newborns’ Access to Health Care
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in the case of Trump v. Barbara, offering the first insight into how the Court will decide the legality of President Trump’s executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and immigrants who are in the country legally but temporarily (such as,…
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Which Parents Will be Impacted by Medicaid Work Reporting Mandate?
A new work reporting requirement for adults in Medicaid is one of the most widely publicized provisions in the Trump budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 1) passed last year and accounts for a great deal of the projected coverage loss and cuts to Medicaid. In fact, a new study from the Urban Institute estimates that between…
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New Report Highlights State Data, Strategies to Protect Pregnant and Postpartum Women from Losing Medicaid Coverage Due to Red Tape
As states press forward to implement the newly required work reporting requirements (WRRs) for Medicaid expansion adults starting next year, researchers at Georgetown CCF remain concerned about coverage losses among those adults who do everything right but still fall through the cracks and become disenrolled. Leo Cuello, Joan Alker and others at CCF have detailed…
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States are Beginning to Grapple with Federal Medicaid Cuts Impact on Rural Health Care
Over the past week, more national media outlets published articles on the effects of federal cuts to health care passed last year by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in H.R. 1, “The One Big Beautiful Bill.” The coverage shows how states are starting to grapple with the effects of the federal cuts…
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Court Order Presses Pause on New ACIP Committee and Changes to Childhood Vaccination Schedule
It has been a tumultuous year for federal vaccine policy – and children are starting to feel the effects. Amidst a major measles outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) chose to roll back nearly half of all childhood vaccination recommendations in early January. As readers of Say Ahhh! Health Policy Blog might…
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The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud: What’s at Stake for Medicaid
On March 19, President Trump issued an Executive Order Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. The stated purpose of the Task Force, which is chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance, is to “coordinate and accelerate a comprehensive national strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs, including programs administered jointly with…
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Medicaid and CHIP Cover More than 4 in 10 Students in Public Schools Nationwide
School-aged children across the nation are facing a mounting mental health crisis, exacerbated by policy changes affecting immigration and Medicaid. As we’ve written before, Medicaid and CHIP are vital supporters of student success, both during the school years and into adulthood. Understanding the landscape of Medicaid/CHIP coverage in local school districts is paramount to connecting…
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CMS Weaponizes Fraud Against Medicaid in Minnesota: An Unexpected Development
On March 19th, CMS notified Minnesota’s Medicaid Director that it has approved the state’s corrective action plan (CAP) for addressing fraud. The state submitted the CAP on January 30 in response to a CMS determination that the state was not in compliance with federal Medicaid law and that, as a result, CMS would withhold over $2…
