Say Ahhh!
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New Health Affairs Policy Brief Examines Regulation of Health Plan Provider Networks
By Justin Giovannelli, Kevin Lucia and Sabrina Corlette of the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reform Health insurance plans with limited networks of providers are common on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) health insurance marketplaces. The ACA’s consumer protections, along with online marketplace platforms that encourage insurers to compete on price, have led…
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Fixing the ‘Family Glitch’ Will Boost Economic Security for Low-Income Families and Increase Marketplace Stability
The ‘Family Glitch’ is back in health policy news with an updated estimate of the cost to fix it from researchers at the Urban Institute. This latest research, published in the July issue of Health Affairs, concludes that fixing the family glitch reduces family health spending but increases government costs. No surprise there; fixing the…
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CMS Approves Arizona Plan to Re-Open CHIP (KidsCare)
Today, Arizona “officially” joined the rest of the country as CMS approved its plan to re-open its CHIP plan. As Say Ahhh! readers know, new enrollment in Arizona’s CHIP plan (KidsCare) was frozen for several years. Now children living in all 50 states and DC will have the opportunity to sign up for CHIP coverage.…
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Recommended Changes to the 2017 Child Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures
As I noted in a blog last year, CMS reviews the Child Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures annually. Advising CMS’ quality activities is the Measure Applications Partnership (MAP), a public-private partnership convened by the National Quality Forum (NQF), a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization that works to catalyze improvements in health care. MAP is…
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Medicaid Expansion Helps Kids by Helping Moms Get Care for Maternal Depression
By Joan Alker and Olivia Golden Today, CLASP and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) are releasing a new report on the important but often-overlooked link between adult health care coverage and children’s healthy development – specifically, the connection between health care coverage and identifying and treating maternal depression, so that children…
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A Preview of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families 2016 Conference
We are so excited for our annual conference happening in just two short weeks! What can you expect this year? Media insights on today’s political landscape from health journalists Phil Galewitz (KHN), Sarah Kliff (VOX), and Rachana Pradhan (POLITICO). A glimpse into the future of children’s coverage from experts such as Cindy Mann, Anne Schwartz,…
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How the New Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Regulations Enhance the Beneficiary Experience
Thanks to a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, CCF has teamed with NHeLP to launch a series of explainer briefs to unpack the new Medicaid/CHIP managed care regulations. Two briefs in the series have been released: Looking at the New Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Regulations Through a Children’s Lens and Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Rules: Improving Consumer…
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Incentivizing Healthy Behaviors: Kentucky is Latest State to Pursue Despite Evidence it Doesn’t Work
Some ideas just keep popping up despite the near certainty that they won’t work. The recent Medicaid waiver proposal from Governor Bevin of Kentucky emphasizes the use of a rewards account where beneficiaries get points by engaging in healthy behaviors or community engagement activities to help pay for vision and dental care. This idea has…
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Medicaid Expansion: Driving Innovation in Behavioral Health Integration
By Jack Hoadley and Adam Searing Safety-net providers in states that have accepted the federal funding available for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are experiencing a positive ripple effect, where increased insurance coverage rates among patients and thus greater financial security for safety-net institutions are translating into better care. We found that…
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Florida and Utah Remove 5-Year Wait for Legal Immigrant Children
July 1 will be a great day for children living in Florida and Utah as the five-year Medicaid/CHIP waiting period for legal immigrant children will be eliminated. Now 30 states and DC have accepted the Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act (ICHIA) option passed into law as part of the reauthorization of CHIP in 2009. (Note:…
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Using Data to Document and Improve EPSDT Participation
For the second part of our series on EPSDT, we’ll turn our attention to data. If you missed the first part, go back for a moment to catch up before continuing. CMS-416 The official federal data source for EPSDT is the CMS-416 form. States are required to use this form to report EPSDT data to…
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Thanks to Improvements Made After Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana is Better-Prepared for a Medicaid Enrollment Boost
By A.J. Custer Starting July 1st, low-income adults in Louisiana will gain health insurance benefits, as the state officially becomes the 31st state to expand Medicaid. Enrollment has already begun and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals predicts an estimated 375,000 people will enroll in Louisiana’s Medicaid program over the next year. The program…
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Supreme Court Impasse on Expanded DACA and DAPA: A Missed Opportunity For Kids’ Health
By Mayra E. Alvarez, The Children’s Partnership, and Sonya Schwartz, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, also posted www.childrenspartnership.org The Supreme Court’s 4-4 vote in United States v. Texas leaves immigrant families and those who care about their future deeply saddened but ready to fight again for inclusion and fairness. With this split decision,…
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Kentucky’s Proposed Waiver Could Undermine its Successful Medicaid Expansion
By Sean Miskell and Adam Searing Kentucky has released a new Medicaid waiver request for state public comment today. This proposal would allow the state to make significant changes to its existing Medicaid program, affecting not only those newly eligible beneficiaries currently receiving health care through Kentucky’s existing Medicaid expansion, but also others served by…
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Embracing an Opportunity to Measure Value in Children’s Health Care
By Suzanne Brundage, originally posted on www.uhfnyc.org Most people in the child health community—and almost assuredly all readers of “Say Ahhh!”—are aware of the ways in which children’s health and their use of health care services differ from those of the adult population. Key differences include the prominence of prevention efforts in children’s health, the relatively…
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How the New Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Regulations Improve Consumer Information
As my colleague, Kelly Whitener, announced last week, thanks to a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, CCF has teamed with NHeLP to launch a series of explainer briefs to unpack the new Medicaid/CHIP managed care regulations. The first brief, Looking at the New Medicaid/CHIP Regulations Through a Children’s Lens, was published last week.…
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Study: Medicaid Offers Stronger Cost Sharing Protections Compared with Marketplace Coverage
By Sean Miskell When we consider the effects of state decisions not to expand Medicaid, we rightfully focus much of our attention on those that are locked out of coverage. However, a new study by researchers at the Commonwealth Fund considers the experience of consumers above the poverty line that are eligible for subsidized Marketplace…
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More on that HHS QHP-CHIP Comparison
My last blog before maternity leave was on the release of HHS’s certification summary, or the results of the agency’s Congressionally mandated comparison of CHIP with the qualified health plan (QHP) coverage children receive. My first blog since returning to work full time is on the same topic—in late May, HHS’s Office of the Assistant…
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New Resource from CLASP Highlight Innovations to Address Maternal Depression
Low-income mothers of young children have high rates of untreated depression due in large part to the lack of affordable health coverage and lack of access to mental health care. Untreated maternal depression can be damaging to a child’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. The ACA offers new routes to finance and systematize maternal depression…
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Introducing our Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Series
As readers of Say Ahhh! know all too well, CMS recently finalized sweeping Medicaid and CHIP managed care regulations. The rules cover a wide range of topics important to children and low-income families, like improving consumer information, enhancing the beneficiary experience, assuring network adequacy and access to services, advancing quality and ensuring accountability and transparency.…
