Say Ahhh!
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Lots of Questions but Few Answers: NAIC’s 2017 Summer Meeting
Originally posted on CHIRblog. For those who follow the fate of the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, it’s hard to escape the daily reports of the status of federal funding for cost-sharing reductions(CSR), the subsidies that lower out-of-pocket costs for low-income marketplace enrollees. The Trump administration won’t commit to funding the reimbursements to insurers for the rest of 2017…
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Arizona Children Most at Risk if Congress Fails to Renew CHIP
As the deadline to extend Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding looms, states are in the difficult position of deciding what to do if new funds don’t materialize. As we’ve written before, Arizona is squarely in the crosshairs as the state whose children are most immediately at risk if CHIP funding is not renewed during…
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Medicaid: Stronger After Senate Rejects Cap
A dramatic 49-51 vote in the Senate last Friday brought an end to the effort to cap federal payments to state Medicaid programs–at least for now. This was the third major push to cap federal payments to states in Medicaid’s 52-year history. In 1981, President Reagan and his Budget Director, David Stockman, narrowly failed in…
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CHIP Programs Cannot Be Shut Down on a Moment’s Notice – Congress Needs to Make Decision on CHIP’s Future
Most CHIP directors I have known over the years are truly committed to the mission of covering children. They recognize the importance of coverage to children’s healthy development, along with the economic security and peace of mind it provides to families. So no doubt many CHIP directors are biting their nails over the fact that…
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CHIP Turns 20: A Not So Happy Birthday
Saturday marks the twentieth anniversary of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which was signed into law on August 5th, 1997 by President Bill Clinton as part of the Balanced Budget Act. As readers of SayAhhh! know, CHIP and its companion Medicaid, have done an amazing job of reducing the number of uninsured children to…
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What Every Policy Maker Needs to Know about the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – A Refresher
Much to our pleasant surprise here at CCF, the recent health care debate elevated and educated many lawmakers on the role of Medicaid for children and families. Medicaid, of course, is the foundation of health coverage for children in the U.S.—a fact that was often overlooked until recently, even by health-savvy lawmakers. But Say Ahhh!…
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New Pediatric Quality Core Measure Set Released by Collaborative of Public and Private Payers
About a year and a half ago, CMS, commercial health plans, Medicare and Medicaid managed care plans, purchasers, physician and other health-related professional groups, and consumers teamed up to reach consensus on core quality measures that would be reported across payers in the public and private sectors. The initiative, known as the Core Quality Measures…
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Medicaid Expansion Reduced Unpaid Medical Debt, Improved Financial Well-Being for Families
As readers of Say Ahhh! know, we are always interested in new Medicaid research on access to care and economic security. Two recent studies focus on these topics, examining Medicaid enrollees’ satisfaction with health care and the financial aspects of having Medicaid. The first study uses new data from the first-ever national Medicaid Consumer Assessment…
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Unexpected Defeat of Repeal Bill Doesn’t Mean End of Threats to ACA Health Coverage
In the wake of the surprise defeat of the Senate’s effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Trump tweeted: “As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!” The Trump administration does in fact have considerable ability to undermine and even “implode” the ACA’s insurance marketplaces, independent of Congress.…
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‘Skinny Repeal’ Bill Would Put Medicaid for Children and Families at Risk (Part 2)
Last night I wrote a blog about how Medicaid is clearly not protected in a “skinny repeal” even though there are no direct changes in what’s reportedly being contemplated because it is merely a tool to get to substantial Medicaid cuts later. But here is another risk. The Congressional Budget Office’s score of how Medicaid…
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‘Skinny Repeal’ Bill Poses Big Risk to Medicaid
There is a lot of talk now about the Senate passing a “skinny repeal” bill at the end of the current floor debate — which could come as early as tomorrow. Rumor has it that the skinny bill would leave Medicaid out since it has been hard to appease all sides of the Republican caucus,…
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No Way to Run a Railroad
The bill unveiled by the Senate leadership last week will cap the federal contribution to Medicaid, shifting large and ever-increasing costs to states and providers and children and families in perpetuity. That much is clear. What is less well understood is that at the same time the bill transfers costs to the states, it transfers…
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A Former State Medicaid Director Shares His Views on Proposed Medicaid Cuts
By Mark Reynolds As soon as tomorrow, the Senate plans to take up its version of Affordable Care Act “repeal and replace” legislation. However, much of this bill is not actually about changing the ACA itself. Instead, it would radically alter the Medicaid program and its historic financing arrangement between the state and federal government.…
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Insurer Q2 Earnings Reports Being – How Will Companies React to Federal Uncertainty?
By Emily Curran, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reform On July 18, Unitedhealthcare reported its second quarter (Q2) financial earnings, kicking off the Q2 cycle in which health insurers will announce their quarterly results, detail major financial gains and losses, and provide insight into how they expect to perform over the following quarter. While the audience…
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In Midst of Health Care Turmoil, States Step up for Immigrant Children
By Lena O’Rourke, CLASP The future of federal health policy feels uncertain right now—but for low-income children the need for high-quality health insurance has never been more urgent. Because governors, lawmakers, doctors, teachers, and parents all know how important health insurance is for the wellbeing of children, they want strong policy that provides coverage to children.…
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Uninsured Rates for American Indian and Alaska Native Children are Coming Down But Are Still Too High: Medicaid Cuts Put These Kids at Risk
Continuing our deeper dive into recent coverage gains among at-risk populations thanks largely to Medicaid (like our recent report on Medicaid’s disproportionate role for small towns and rural areas), today we are releasing a new paper “Coverage Trends for American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Families.” The big takeaway: Uninsured rates for AI/AN children…
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Don’t Be Fooled by the Optics
The Senate Leadership has released a new version of a “repeal and replace” bill that may be considered by the full Senate next week. The new bill contains a few tweaks of the Medicaid provisions in the prior version, but these don’t fix the fundamental flaw in the bill for children and families: the cap…
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A Medicaid Beneficiary in Indiana Speaks Out Against Work Requirements
We have been reading the comments that were publicly submitted to CMS on Indiana’s request to add a work requirement to its Medicaid waiver, known as Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) 2.0. This one jumped out at me: “I live in Indiana and rely on HIP 2.0 for my health insurance. I suffer from Bi-polar Disorder…
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New Texas Law Takes Important Step Towards Healthy Moms and Babies, Medicaid’s Future Will Determine Success
By Adriana Kohler, Texans Care for Children A new Texas law recognizes the powerful link between mothers’ mental health and children’s health, development, and long-term success. And it all started with discussions at a Center for Children and Families conference last summer. Last month, after Texas lawmakers packed their bags and returned home following a…
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Actuaries: Medicaid Caps Will Not Reduce Spending but Transfer Costs to Providers, Insurers, Employers and Individuals
Add the American Academy of Actuaries to the list of experts expressing concerns about the proposed Medicaid caps. In a June 30th letter to the Senate, the experts on insurance risks described how the proposed Medicaid changes would impact states and beneficiaries. In describing the Medicaid caps generally, the Actuaries write that the House and…
