Say Ahhh!
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Hatch-Wyden Draft Bill to Extend CHIP Released
Although the renewed focus on Graham-Cassidy threatens to derail timely action on CHIP, a draft of bipartisan legislative language from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to extend CHIP has been released. In keeping with the positive signals that we’ve been hearing about, the draft bill known as…
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New Urban Institute Interactive Analysis Shows Rising Cost for Families Using Employer-Sponsored Insurance
It’s no secret that private health insurance is expensive and that, over time, employers have passed more and more of the cost onto workers and their families. Still, when federal policy changes are being contemplated, there is often the sense that families have access to employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) to fall back on. This is especially…
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Progress on CHIP Extension Threatened by Graham-Cassidy Repeal Effort
Though we were optimistic about the chances of swift, bipartisan action on CHIP last week, that optimism has waned as the partisan rhetoric around repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act has heated up again. The simple fact of the matter is that you cannot have movement on these two initiatives at once. Unfortunately, the…
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Graham-Cassidy: The Wrong Prescription for Children and Families
Many of us thought that the effort to “repeal and replace” the ACA died on the Senate floor in July. Maybe not. This past Wednesday, Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), joined by two other Republican Senators, released yet another “repeal and replace” proposal. The Senators hope to take their proposal to the…
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Medicaid’s “Welcome Mat” Effect Means Medicaid Expansion Helps Children Get Health Coverage
New research in the journal Health Affairs this month gives even more evidence for a parental “welcome mat” effect that increases health coverage among children already eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program when their parents become eligible as well. Simply put, moving to “whole family coverage” through a state Medicaid expansion or…
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Positive Development for CHIP Emerges from Senate Finance Committee Leaders
Yesterday I blogged about the urgent need for Congress to take bipartisan action to extend CHIP funding before it expires on September 30. The Senate only has 10 legislative days left before the deadline, and the House only has five! Yikes! Almost nine million children have their coverage provided for or funded at least in part…
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States Could Lose Cost-Effective Express Lane Eligibility if Congress Fails to extend CHIP Promptly
When CHIP was reauthorized in 2009, it provided a new tool – known as Express Lane Eligibility (ELE) – for states to enroll and renew children’s coverage. ELE allows states the flexibility to use findings from other public programs, like SNAP, to determine eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP. ELE can be used at enrollment, renewal,…
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Why CHIP Beats the Marketplace When it Comes to Kids
Over the past few decades, policymakers have made a commitment to insuring children, as evidenced by Medicaid coverage expansions in the 1980s, the creation of CHIP in 1997, and most recently, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But not all of these coverage sources are created equal. Medicaid, the MVP for children’s coverage, offers children an…
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Will Congress Convert Bipartisan Support for CHIP into Action for Kids?
Last week I attended and spoke at a wonderful child health symposium at West Virginia University’s John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics. Senator Rockefeller was there sharing his inspiration and wisdom and emphasizing the bipartisan spirit in which the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was born 20 years ago. Today, thanks to…
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U.S. Continues Progress in Children’s Health: Over 95% of U.S. Children Have Health Insurance
Today the Census Bureau partially released the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) health insurance data. According to the data, the insured rate among children under age 19 is now at an all-time high of 95.3 percent. This continues the upward trend of the children’s insured rate since 2008. Overall, 2016 shows promising developments for children’s…
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States Take the Lead with Policies to Protect Residents with Chronic Conditions from High Out-of-Pocket Drug Costs
This blog post originally appeared on the Center on Health Insurance Reforms blog. While there were many campaign promises to lower prescription drug costs, to date there’s been little federal action to reduce prescription drug prices or lower patients’ costs. States, however, are taking the lead with policies designed to protect consumers from the high…
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Medicaid: The Port in a Storm for Children and Families
As Harvey and Irma remind us, natural disasters happen. And when they do, they threaten the health of children and families and the ability of providers to deliver needed services. It takes time for displaced families, providers, and communities to get back on their feet. It also takes resources. While federal Medicaid funds are always…
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Reduced Funding for Navigators and Public Education Could Harm Nation’s Success in Covering Kids
No smart business stops investing in marketing and customer support when sales are down. But that’s exactly what the Trump administration is doing by cutting funding for advertising and navigators. The recent announcement that CMS is decreasing Healthcare.gov’s direct marketing budget by 90 percent and reducing funding to navigator entities by almost half is shortsighted for…
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Will Congress Act in Time to Keep CHIP Coverage in Place for Kids?
Last month, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of CHIP – an acronym that needs no explanation to readers of Say Ahhh! Over the years, CHIP’s high profile and strong bipartisan popularity has played a significant role in advancing children’s coverage, along with earlier expansions of Medicaid to the most vulnerable children. CHIP spurred states to…
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HHS Bulletin on Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care Regulations Raises Red Flags
Last year, HHS finalized changes to the Medicaid and CHIP managed care regulations to modernize and streamline program rules for the first time in over a decade. Nearly 9 in 10 children enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP get their care through some type of managed care arrangement, so we teamed up with NHeLP to review the rules…
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Back-to-School Season Focuses Attention on Need to Connect More Kids with Health Coverage
Children’s health advocates have their hands full trying to preserve Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for America’s children, but they can’t slow down on their efforts to connect more kids with coverage. Most uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but are unenrolled because their parents aren’t aware of the option…
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Shielding Children from the Rising Costs of Prescription Drugs
Consider three different drugs that are used by children. Amoxicillin is an inexpensive antibiotic that might be prescribed when a child has an ear infection. Typically, this generic drug would cost between $5 and $15 for a one-time prescription. Antibiotics are the most common type of drug used by children under age 6. EpiPen is…
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Recent Research Shows Disparities in Health Care Access Reduced After The ACA
We know that access to health care is correlated with many demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The Affordable Care Act, through the Medicaid expansion and the marketplace, extended coverage to uninsured populations with the hope of reducing disparities in access to health care. After the first couple of years of the insurance expansions, research shows that…
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Arkansas’s Laura Kellams Receives Georgetown CCF’s 2017 Bulldog Award
In 2014, we started the “Bulldog of the Year” award, to honor a state advocate that embodies bulldog-like tenacity and stubbornness in the quest to improve health care for children. (Georgetown’s mascot, Jack, is a bulldog.) I was so excited that one of my favorite people on the planet, Laura Kellams, was awarded this year’s…
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Arkansas and Nevada Latest to Eliminate 5-Year Waiting Period for Lawfully Residing Children
The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 gave states the option to improve Medicaid access by waiving the 5-year waiting period for lawfully residing immigrant children. With Arkansas and Nevada coming on board, this option has now been adopted by 33 states. Earlier this year, the Arkansas legislature passed a resolution to waive…
