Say Ahhh!
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Covering Parents and Caregivers Helps Kids – Many Gained Health Coverage Through the ACA
While we focus a lot on the critical importance of health coverage for children, we are equally mindful of the importance of parent coverage and its impacts on children. Say Ahhh! readers well know some of the important ways in which covering parents helps kids. Providing coverage to parents rolls out a welcome mat—meaning more…
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Top Five Threats to Child Welfare from ACA Repeal & Proposals to Alter Medicaid
By Olivia Golden, Executive Director, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) Proposals by the Congress and President-elect to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—including the Medicaid expansion—to turn Medicaid into a block grant, and to cut resources, all can sound very abstract to social workers and policymakers coping with the day-to-day tragedies and crises of…
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New Mental Health Reforms are Built on the Premise of a Strong Health Care System
This week, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act, now headed to the President’s desk. The bill takes a number of steps to improve research and care quality in the healthcare system. Lesser known, the final agreement included mental health reforms that have been in the works for several years. These include helpful changes to…
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New Study Finds the Number of Uninsured Children Will More Than Double if the Affordable Care Act is Repealed
Less than two months ago we released our annual report looking at the nation’s progress in covering uninsured children. As regular readers of Say Ahhh! know this year we found widespread and unprecedented progress in reducing the number of uninsured children with the nation reaching a historic milestone of 95% of children covered in 2015…
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What Could Reconciliation Mean for Medicaid: Reviewing HR 3762
By Cindy Mann, Partner, Manatt Health President-elect Trump and leaders in Congress have proposed a major restructuring of the Medicaid program, but very significant changes to Medicaid coverage and financing could be adopted even before that debate begins as part of a reconciliation bill aimed at repealing various provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).…
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Medicaid Coverage Improves Financial Security
Health insurance serves many purposes, but perhaps the most important function is to protect families from financial devastation. The CDC released a new report examining the percent of families having problems paying medical bills between 2011 and the first half of 2016. Overall, the percent of individuals under age 65 in families that were having…
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Arizona’s Coverage for Children and Families is Especially Threatened by ACA Repeal with No Replace
Congressional leaders have been clear that a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is first up on their agenda in January. I blogged about this the other day, and as I was reflecting on these issues, I realized that children and families in Arizona are in particularly hot water if the ACA is repealed.…
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New CDC Report: Health Reform Strengthens Financial Stability of American Families
A report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds a dramatic decline in the number of families and individuals who are struggling to pay medical bills, compared to what they faced before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) found…
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ACA Repeal without Replace – Can states continue to cover the Medicaid expansion population?
As the discussion about repealing the ACA continues, more and more questions arise. The latest question in my mind is this: If the Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act is repealed, what options would states have to continue to cover this population if they wanted to do so? Before the Affordable Care Act, in…
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New Report from Texas: Thousands of Young Kids with Disabilities Excluded from Early Intervention Amid State Cuts
By Rebecca Hornbach and Stephanie Rubin, Texans Care for Children As the President-elect and Congress consider significant changes to the way the federal government works with states to support children and families, and our state lawmakers here in Texas prepare for a legislative session with this new administration in Washington, they should consider our recent…
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Q&A with Dr. Benjamin Sommers on Medicaid Coverage Gains
Joan Alker: You and your colleagues, Molly Frean and Dr. Jonathan Gruber, recently published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine titled “Disentangling the ACA’s Coverage Effects — Lessons for Policymakers,” and we understand you are releasing a new working paper that updates this study using newer data through 2015. What are the main findings of…
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Trump Picks For HHS Signal Radical Restructuring of Medicaid Contemplated with Coverage for Millions of Children and Families at Risk
Today we have learned of President-Elect Trump’s choices for the two most important health care policymakers in his Administration. They will have broad authority to shape the future of Medicare and Medicaid. Current House Budget Committee Chair Tom Price (R-GA) has been nominated to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Seema…
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Top Five Threats to Children and Families Posed by a Medicaid Block Grant
Many questions remain about what the new administration and Congress have in store for vulnerable children and families. Of course, the president-elect and congressional leaders have indicated repeal of the ACA will be a top priority early next year and, among other things, would end the Medicaid expansion and children’s coverage protections. But what other…
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What Does Repeal of the Affordable Care Act Mean for Children and Families?
President-elect Donald Trump and Congressional leaders have been very clear that repealing the Affordable Care Act is a top priority as soon as Congress returns to town in January. While Republican leaders have long talked about “repeal and replace” the replace part of the equation is a lot harder to figure out. As a result,…
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Medicaid on the Chopping Block: Coverage for Millions at Stake
According to the Congressional Budget Office, about 10 million people are newly enrolled in Medicaid because of the Affordable Care Act. In total over 20 million people are now getting their health coverage through Medicaid, private insurance subsidies and other provisions of the Affordable Care Act. With the results of the current election, health insurance…
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What Do Election Results Mean for Child and Family Coverage, Medicaid and CHIP?
Last night’s surprise election results raise many, many questions about what will happen next year to the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and CHIP. There is a long road ahead but let’s start by taking stock of a few things we know. As readers of SayAhhh! know, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is running out…
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When it Comes to Monitoring the Quality of Children’s Health Care in Medicaid, the Golden State Could Fall Even Further Behind
Over 5 million kids in California rely on Medicaid services to grow up healthy and strong, making it by far the largest child-serving health insurance program in the nation. Yet, based on public reporting, California is far behind the nation when it comes to ensuring the quality of the health care provided to these children.…
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Drafting New Medicaid Policy Wonks at the 2016 Alliance for Early Success Partner Summit
Last month, Elisabeth Wright Burak and I travelled to Arizona to take part in our first Alliance for Early Success partner summit. The Alliance for Early Success is a “catalyst for bringing state, national and funding partners together to improve state policies for children, starting at birth and continuing through age eight, with a priority…
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A Golden Opportunity: California Celebrates Historic Rates of Children’s Health Coverage
by Mayra E. Alvarez, President, The Children’s Partnership There’s a saying in California: As California goes, so goes the nation. When it comes to coverage for children, we sure hope so. In California, almost 97% of children have health coverage – a 55% decline in uninsured children in the last two years. Last week, Georgetown’s…
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A Tale of Two States: Children’s Uninsurance Rates in Texas and California
This week, we released our sixth annual report on children’s health coverage rates across the country. Overall, we found that the country is making incredible progress in reducing rates of uninsurance with the vast majority of states (41 states) experiencing a significant decline in uninsurance rates. The two states with the largest population of uninsured…
