Say Ahhh!
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School Readiness as an “Essential Quality Metric” for Children: A Hook for Medicaid in Cross-System Work
The importance of a child’s first months and years can’t be overstated. It’s a time of rapid brain development and learning, where relationships and environments set the course for a child’s lifelong trajectory—even shaping the architecture of the brain. In 2016, Medicaid and CHIP served close to half of all children under 6, and more…
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New Study Finds Evidence of a “Chilling Effect” in 2016 Marketplace Enrollment
There have been reports in the news of immigrant families decreasing their use of health care services and safety net programs because they fear that their information may be used to identify undocumented family members. A new study in the National Bureau of Economic Research explores this topic. Researchers examine the effects of Secure Communities,…
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Medicaid’s Vital Role for Schools and Students
It feels like summer just arrived, but back-to-school time is near! Before the back-to-school bell rings, we wanted to take stock of health coverage for school-age children. As SayAhhh! readers are well aware, Medicaid and CHIP, the primary public health coverage sources for children, have worked together in recent decades to bring the rate…
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A Disturbing Trend of Hiding the Coverage Losses is Emerging in Medicaid Waivers
For those of us closely watching the action on new Section 1115 Medicaid research and demonstration waivers that the Trump Administration has been inviting and approving this year, the recent court decision putting a hold on Kentucky’s plans was welcome news. The court ruled that the Secretary’s decision in granting the Medicaid waiver was “arbitrary…
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Trump Administration Encourages States to Seek Waivers to Opt Out of Medicaid Drug Rebate Program
On June 27, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services partially approved Massachusetts’ Medicaid waiver proposal, but among other provisions, rejected a proposal to impose a “closed formulary” for prescription drugs under which the state could entirely exclude coverage of certain drugs in ways not permitted under current law. Instead, CMS expressed openness to approving…
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Trump Administration Strikes Another Blow to the ACA by Cutting Navigator Funding
In what seems an endless stream of administrative actions to undermine the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration has cut navigator funding from the 2016 level of $63 million to $37 million in 2017 to a meager $10 million for the upcoming fall (2018) open enrollment period. It also looks like the administration is trying…
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Video: These Parents of Medically Complex Kids Explain Why Medicaid Matters to Their Families
If you want to know about kids, listen to parents. Sometimes in the health policy and political worlds, it’s easy to forget this simple piece of advice – and sometimes politicians and policymakers are too focused on the latest bill or political win to remember it. Over the last year, we’ve spent a lot of…
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House Committee to Consider Expanding Health Savings Account Tax Breaks for High Income
Today, July 11, the full House Ways and Means Committee will begin consideration of multiple health-related tax bills, many of which would expand tax breaks for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). These HSA bills would primarily benefit those with high incomes, rather than make health coverage more affordable for low- and moderate-income children and families. Health…
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Administration Stops Risk Adjustment Payments to Insurers: Another Act of Sabotage?
On July 7, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that it would indefinitely delay making “risk adjustment” payments owed to insurers participating in the individual and small group markets. In the short-run, this would result in many insurers not receiving payments they are expecting this year as scheduled. That would adversely affect these…
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Research Update: Evidence Continues to Build on Medicaid’s Role Promoting Economic Security
I previously wrote about the primary role of health insurance, which is to protect against economic insecurity, medical debt, and bankruptcy. Recently, I have been reading new studies that continues to build on this body of work. NBER’s Medicaid and Financial Health Using consumer credit data, the authors examine the financial distress of non-elderly adults…
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Want to Help Young Children? Expand Medicaid.
We are asked a lot about the ways states can do more for young children in Medicaid—and we have a lot to say! Young children’s healthy development is influenced by their interactions and relationships with parents and other adults. So naturally, for the 17 states holding out, we start by raising Medicaid expansion. While we…
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Research Update: How Has Medicaid Expansion Impacted Workers?
This week, I am reading research showing that there may be links between the Medicaid expansion and trends in employer-sponsored insurance, labor force participation and employment. Health Affairs’ Employer-Sponsored Insurance Stable For Low-Income Workers In Medicaid Expansion States Urban Institute researchers used data from the Health Reform Monitoring Survey between July 2013 and March 2017…
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Positive Economic Effects from Louisiana’s Medicaid Expansion Provides Example for Southern States
A new report produced by Louisiana State University shows Louisiana’s decision to expand Medicaid to non-elderly adults below 138%of Federal Poverty Level (FPL) has resulted in millions in net revenue for the state. Using an economic impact analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the study finds the Medicaid expansion created 19,195 jobs and $177.8 million…
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The Kentucky Medicaid Waiver Approval: How Do You Spell “Arbitrary and Capricious”?
Late last Friday, a federal District Court overturned the approval of the Kentucky HEALTH waiver by the Secretary of HHS and sent it back to the agency. As a result, Kentucky could not implement work requirements or other harmful changes – premiums, lockouts, elimination of retroactive coverage, etc. – on July 1, as it had…
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Coverage Gap Leaves Millions of Americans without Affordable Health Insurance
According to a new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 2.2 million adults are in a “coverage gap,” resulting from the failure of 17 states to expand Medicaid. As Say Ahhh! readers may recall, the coverage gap occurs among poor, non-elderly adults in non-expansion states who have incomes too high to be eligible for Medicaid…
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CCF Comments to Trump Administration Drug Pricing Blueprint: How to Further Strengthen the Effective Medicaid Drug Rebate Program
In May, the Trump Administration unveiled its drug pricing blueprint and is now seeking public comments. We would like to share our submitted comments to the blueprint, which focus on Medicaid, and encourage you to submit your own comments by the July 16 deadline. Prescription drugs are essential for the health of tens of millions…
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Arbitrary and Capricious: Kentucky Can’t Require Medicaid Beneficiaries to Document Work in Order to Have Coverage
Seema Verma, the CMS Administrator, has been relentless in her efforts to rewrite the Medicaid statute by encouraging states to require “able bodied” adults to document work in order to qualify for Medicaid. The resulting blizzard of red tape would predictably lead to large coverage losses and redefine Medicaid as a welfare rather than a…
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Capable, Not Willing: Reuniting Families Could Take Longer If Administration Doesn’t Make it a Priority
As readers of SayAhhh! already know, the President’s Executive Order (EO) on family separation at the U.S. border raised more questions than it answered and had many disturbing implications. The EO did not end family separation as it purported. Instead, the EO outlined a policy to detain families indefinitely while seeking the authority to end…
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Why is NH Proposing to Replace Proven Electronic Citizenship Verification with Burdensome Medicaid Paperwork Requirements?
My home state of New Hampshire is proposing to add burdensome paperwork requirements for U.S. citizens to prove eligibility for Medicaid. That’s one of the requests they are making in the Medicaid waiver proposal that is up for state comment before the end of the week. This is perplexing because the state and federal governments…
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New Report Shows Public Coverage Increases Insurance Rates Among Vulnerable Children
In a recently released report on children’s coverage trends from State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC), analysis shows the number of uninsured children decreased by 2.2 million, or 2.9 percentage points, between 2013 and 2016. Though private and public coverage both increased over the period, children with public coverage experienced larger coverage increases, with…
