Say Ahhh!
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Approved Disaster Relief SPAs Reduce Burdens on Beneficiaries
CMS has begun approving states’ disaster relief State Plan Amendments in response to the COVID-19 crisis. As my colleague Tricia Brooks recently described, these SPAs allow states to make temporary changes to eligibility, enrollment, and cost-sharing policies among others flexibilities. It is important to note that the changes requested, and subsequently approved, in the disaster…
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Pandemic Induced Pragmatism: The State of Medicaid Waiver Policy
Amongst other ways in which life has dramatically changed in the last month, Section 1115 Medicaid waiver terrain has experienced a tectonic shift. For those of us who have been responding to massive numbers of public comment periods over the past two-plus years, only one waiver opened for public comment that we are commenting on…
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Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility Verification Flexibilities Help States Keep up with Increased Application Volume due to COVID-19
As more and more Americans file unemployment claims, we can expect an increase in Medicaid applications. This increased demand comes at a time when Medicaid eligibility enterprises are challenged with transitioning eligibility workers to telework and may be experiencing workforce shortages due to worker illness or family caretaking responsibilities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. But…
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Recent Medicaid Expansion Activity in Eight States during the COVID-19 Crisis
As states respond to the COVID-19 crisis, those that have yet to expand Medicaid are facing rising calls to reverse their opposition and quickly provide affordable health care to millions of residents. The oncoming double hit to states of rising numbers of residents needing advanced, expensive health care coupled with truly staggering job losses –…
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States Should Accept all Federal Funding Already on Table to Fill as Many Health Coverage Gaps as Possible While Pressing for More
States are under tremendous pressure to continue to provide essential services even as resources dwindle, underscoring the importance of the 6.2 percentage point increase in the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) in the Families First Coronavirus Response legislation Congress passed last month. Unfortunately, the health and economic consequences of this pandemic necessitate an even bolder…
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Solution to Maternal Health Crisis Must Center on Medicaid
Earlier this month, CCF submitted comments to the Senate Finance Committee with recommendations to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity and help mothers and babies thrive together. At the heart of our comments was this: Medicaid must be at the center of any efforts to solve to this crisis. Here’s why. Medicaid paid for nearly half…
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COVID-19 and Immigrant Health
Now, more than ever, it’s critical that everyone has access to health coverage. The only way to effectively respond to a pandemic is to make sure that everyone can get the screening and treatment they need. Unfortunately, even with three new laws to address the COVID-19 public health emergency, there are still gaps in coverage,…
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The Rate of Uninsured Infants and Toddlers is Growing. Don’t Let COVID-19 Pandemic Make Things Worse
Three+ weeks into my at-home work existence with a fellow teleworking spouse, a 3rd grader and a preschooler and I’ve found a new base level of stress, despite yoga, workouts, mediation and ALL of the deep breaths. It’s hard. And yet our family is among the luckiest of Americans. We are safe and healthy. We…
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Kids Lose Access to Critical Health Care Source When Schools Shutter Due to COVID-19
In some schools, nurses deliver the first dose of asthma medicine to students who need it every morning. In others, dentist technicians show up to clean children’s teeth and look for cavities. Across the country, school-based physical and mental health therapists support students with disabilities. With more than 120,000 schools nationwide shuttered for the foreseeable…
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Expanded Coverage for COVID-19 Testing is an Important Step, But Loopholes Expose All of Us to Greater Risk
[This blog was originally posted on the Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms’ CHIRBlog.] After a delayed response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has significantly picked up the pace. In the space of three weeks, Congress enacted three stimulus bills: An $8.3 billion emergency appropriations bill (March 6), the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (March…
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Medicaid Work Requirements and COVID-19: The Wheels Come Off
The wheels have come off of the CMS Administrator’s work requirements bus tour. Ill-conceived from the start, the Administrator’s effort to “reframe” Medicaid has been brought to an abrupt halt by the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting economic collapse, and the Congressional response, which prohibits states from disenrolling resident Medicaid beneficiaries for any reason, including work…
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Pandemic Puts Need for Improved Access to Affordable Health Coverage into Sharper Focus
I’ve spent my career in health care policy, working to make sure families have easy access to quality health care. As such, I’m acutely aware of the difference between individuals getting access to affordable health coverage versus public health overall, the effort to maintain and improve the health of populations. And with the COVID-19 pandemic…
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Much of the Fiscal Relief Provided to States for COVID-19 Could be Canceled Out if Trump Administration’s Medicaid “MFAR” Rule Is Finalized
Congress included substantial fiscal relief for states in both the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (P.L. 116-127) and the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136). Families First temporarily increased the federal Medicaid matching rate (FMAP) by 6.2 percentage points for all states and territories starting January 1, 2020 through the end of the public health emergency. That…
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Navigating Coverage During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Frequently Asked Questions
[This post by our partners at the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms focuses mainly on questions about Marketplace coverage. Medicaid and CHIP provide even more affordable health coverage options to those who qualify. You can can learn more about Medicaid and CHIP coverage here.) The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been the cause of…
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The CARES Act: A Missed Opportunity to Help State Medicaid and CHIP Programs Protect People and Public Health
Today (March 27) the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, was approved by the House of Representatives by a voice vote after clearing the Senate by 97-0. It is now on its way to the President’s desk to be signed into law. This is the third Congressional response (to date) to the COVID-19…
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Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Impact on Pregnant Women Covered by Medicaid and CHIP
As we continue to unpack the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, we thought we’d take a closer look at how the bill will impact pregnant women covered by Medicaid and CHIP. First, some important background. Eligibility. Medicaid and CHIP offer multiple coverage pathways for pregnant women, including mandatory and optional coverage groups. Medicaid requires coverage…
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Medicaid Disaster Relief SPA Template Suggests Positive Steps States Can Take During the COVID-19 Pandemic
CMS has created a helpful template to make it easier for states to make temporary changes to their Medicaid State Plans during the COVID-19 National Emergency. For most strategies, states need only check off options on the template or, in some cases, provide brief descriptions of the groups or populations affected by the change. The…
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CMS Guidance Clarifies that Families First COVID-19 Response Bill’s FMAP Increase Will Benefit CHIP Too
On March 24, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance related to the temporary increase in the federal Medicaid matching rate (FMAP) included in the Families First COVID-19 response legislation (P.L. 116-127). As we have explained, Families First would increase the FMAP by 6.2 percentage points for all states and territories starting…
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Statement by Joan Alker on Withdrawal of the “Strengthening the Program Integrity of the Medicaid Eligibility Determination Process” Proposed Rule
“Today the Trump Administration wisely withdrew a rule that would have added onerous red tape and slashed enrollment just when people need Medicaid the most, as many lose their jobs and see their hours and wages drastically cut and others are stricken with COVID-19. Medicaid is one of the most powerful tools states have to…
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CHIP and COVID-19 Response
Yesterday, I blogged about my favorite provision in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that requires states to freeze disenrollment in Medicaid through the duration of the public health emergency in order to receive the 6.2 percentage point bump in the state’s regular federal Medicaid matching rate (FMAP). Sadly, the disenrollment freeze does not apply…
