Blog
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Where States Stand on Extended Postpartum Medicaid Coverage
Since the American Rescue Plan passed in March, we’ve been closely following state decisions to take up the important new Medicaid state plan option that allows states to extend postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage for 12 months after the end of the pregnancy, well beyond the current federal cutoff of just 60 days postpartum. Because…
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What Can the Biden Administration Do to Promote Health Equity in Medicaid?
The Biden Administration has announced its intention to make health equity and reducing racial disparities a central feature of its policy agenda issuing an Executive Order on day one instructing federal agencies to promote equity in multiple ways. Section 9 of this Executive Order noted that many federal datasets were not disaggregated by race/ethnicity/gender/disability etc.,…
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Medicaid Expansion Could Narrow Health Coverage Gaps for Latino Families
COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated longstanding health coverage disparities for Latino families, even as many Latino workers put themselves and their families at greater risk while continuing to work in essential roles to support their communities during the pandemic. These coverage disparities persist across the country, but are wider and growing faster in states that…
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States Could Have the Opportunity to Bolster and Speed Up Coverage for Former Foster Care Youth
Longtime readers of Say Ahh! and fellow health policy wonks will know that one of the most bipartisan provisions of the Affordable Care Act extended Medicaid coverage for youth aging out of the foster care system until age 26 if they were enrolled before their 18th birthday. (If not, Tricia Brooks has chronicled all the…
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Medicaid Managed Care: Transparency, Procurement, and Children’s Health
Last month, Children Now released a report on the delivery of preventive health services to children by Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) in California. The report analyzes MCO-specific performance data for 2019 for five different measures: well-child visits in the first 15 months of life; child and adolescent well-child visits; lead screening for children under…
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How Do State Policy Decisions Help or Hinder Access to Health Coverage for Latino Children?
As the overall child uninsured rate started going in the wrong direction between 2016 and 2019, Latino children were disproportionately affected, widening the long-standing coverage disparity after years of progress. As of 2019, there is an almost 5 percentage point gap between the uninsured rate for non-Latino and Latino children nationwide (4.4 percent versus 9.3…
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Iowa’s New Child Health Dashboard Provides Insight into How Medicaid Managed Care is Working for Kids
In April of 2016, Iowa transitioned its entire Medicaid program from a fee-for-service model to a managed care model. Over the past five years, Iowa’s Medicaid program has dealt with more than its fair share of upheaval—from managed care organizations (MCOs) reporting catastrophic losses to a lawsuit claiming that the transition to managed care deprived…
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States Move Toward Multi-Year Continuous Eligibility for Children in Medicaid
Children need consistent access to health care, especially in their early years when frequent screenings, vaccinations, and well child checkups are so critical to their development and school readiness. And despite efforts to streamline and simplify eligibility processes and improve retention, many children covered by Medicaid (as well as other sources of health insurance) experience…
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Medicaid Expansion Debate: Wyoming, Mississippi and Missouri
Even as state legislative sessions wrap up around the country, the Medicaid expansion debate remains very much alive in several states. With significant extra funding available under the federal American Rescue Plan for states that do expand, the financial benefits for states have never been greater. A new report on the economic effects of Medicaid…
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What Is Happening With Medicaid Enrollment In Q1 Of 2021?
As regular readers of SayAhhh! know, we have been tracking state administrative data for some early indicators of what is happening with Medicaid enrollment during the pandemic and associated recession. Federal data that tracks all states is available through November 2020 but at this point in time it lags behind what some states report so…
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More States Moving to Extend Medicaid Postpartum Coverage Option Under ARP, Why Are Georgia and Missouri Limiting Its Reach?
Extending postpartum coverage continues to be a hot topic in state legislatures, in Congress, and in the Biden Administration. As my colleagues shared in a blog last week, CMS recently approved Section 1115 demonstration waivers in Georgia and Missouri that extend postpartum benefits to at least some pregnant people. While a step forward, the approvals…
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Shifting the Paradigm: How Medicaid Can Strengthen Behavioral Health Crisis Response
Police respond to a wide range of situations beyond crimes — everything from traffic stops to domestic disputes to homelessness. They are also generally the first responders in situations involving mental health or substance use crises. This unexpected, largely unrecognized role reflects an unmet need for behavioral health care, gaps in community-based services for mental…
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Georgetown University CCF Welcomes Leonardo Cuello To Our Team
I am excited to share more good news. Thanks to some new funding, CCF is expanding and Leonardo Cuello, J.D. will be joining CCF and the faculty of the McCourt School of Public Policy on July 1st. Leo is well known to many of us (and no doubt to many regular readers of SayAhhh!) from…
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Georgia and Missouri Postpartum Medicaid Waiver Approvals Promote Limited Coverage
As Say Ahh readers know, there have been bursts of Section 1115 demonstration activity since the start of the year. April was no different, bringing another flurry of actions from CMS. This time, however, there were some new demonstration approvals that promote coverage, albeit in a more limited way than we would have liked to…
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Proposals to Cover All Kids Gain Momentum in State Legislatures
For years we’ve known the important role health insurance plays in making sure kids have access to the care they need, and how Medicaid and CHIP are critical sources of coverage for millions of children and families. While most uninsured kids are eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP, these programs are not open…
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Texas Medicaid Waiver a Diversion in Crisis of the Uninsured
Confused about Texas Medicaid funding? Understandable. The April decision that Texas must “redo” the process to extend our Medicaid “1115 waiver” funding past 2022 — an extension granted by the Trump administration despite the lack of a required public comment process — is important but not calamitous. Texas’ waiver agreement, approved by President Barack Obama…
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Medicaid Managed Care and Children with Disabilities: A Cautionary Tale
Loyal fans of the Say Ahhh! blog know that Medicaid is the nation’s largest health insurer for children, covering over 35 million. They also know that Medicaid does not exclude any child from coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition; in fact, some children qualify for Medicaid because they receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI)…
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Low-Wage Uninsured Workers: Who are They and Where do They Work?
Allie Corcoran and I have embarked on a new research project looking at the occupations and industries of low-wage, uninsured workers in states that have not expanded Medicaid with American Community Survey data.[1] As readers of the SayAhhh! blog know, there are 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid and have higher uninsured rates for…
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New Factsheet Shows that Cashiers, Housekeepers and Cooks Are Among the Mississippians that Would Benefit Most from Medicaid Expansion
CCF and the Mississippi Center for Justice recently jointly released the first in a series of factsheets dedicated to examining the landscape of low-wage, uninsured workers in states that have not yet expanded Medicaid. The factsheet, titled “A Profile of Mississippi’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers” comes as the American Rescue Plan provides new incentives for states…
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Medicaid Wars: Litigation Risk (Episode III)
It turns out that unwinding illegal Medicaid policies is complicated. There’s this thing called “litigation risk”. Executive Branch agencies have to make reasoned decisions and stay within their statutory guardrails; if they don’t the federal courts may rein them in. As it happens, litigation risk goes both ways. The Unwinding began with the issuance of…
