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Say Ahhh!

  • States Innovation Waivers under the ACA: A Closer Look at the Updated Federal Guidance and State Proposals

    Guest

    By Kevin Lucia, Justin Giovannelli, Sean Miskell and Ashley Williams. Originally posted on the CHIRblog. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) established a framework—including now-familiar elements like insurance marketplaces and premium tax credits—to expand access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance coverage. However, the law also gives states a chance to realize these goals using alternative solutions.…

  • Commonwealth Fund Tool Demonstrates Effects of State Efforts to Expand Coverage and Improve Enrollment

    CCFadmin

    By Sean Miskell Comparing outcomes across states provides an opportunity to consider how state-specific approaches to administering their health programs provide coverage to their residents and help them stay enrolled. Say Ahhh! readers certainly know that we like our 50-state tables here at CCF. The Commonwealth Fund has updated its interactive tool that allows users…

  • CCF Research Helps Inform Debate over Reinstating Arizona KidsCare

    Kelly Whitener

    Last week, I was in Phoenix, Arizona to testify at a hearing in the House of Representatives Health Committee on KidsCare. As Say Ahhh! readers know, the changes to KidsCare in the last several years created a unique research opportunity because Arizona is the only state without a functioning Children’s Health Insurance Program. My colleagues…

  • More Evidence that Medicaid Expansion Improves the Lives of Low-Income Parents

    Alisa Chester

    As we have talked about in a number of papers, Medicaid expansion is good for parents and children. Thanks to the “welcome mat” effect, states choosing to expand Medicaid coverage to parents also help reduce the number of uninsured children. A new study in Health Services Research, Medicaid Expansions from 1997 to 2009 Increased Coverage…

  • CMS Releases State-by-State Designations of Whether Certain Medicaid Categories Meet Minimum Essential Coverage Standards

    Tricia Brooks

    The long-awaited assessment of whether certain Medicaid coverage categories meet minimum essential coverage (MEC) standards is out. Why is this important? This list serves two purposes: Individuals eligible for non-MEC Medicaid can qualify for premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions. Individuals with non-MEC Medicaid coverage know whether they need to secure MEC to avoid the…

  • President’s Final Budget Includes Several Provisions to Help Children and Families

    Cathy Hope

    President Obama released his final budget proposal and included a number of provisions that would help improve health coverage for children and families. Those provisions include the following: • Fully funding CHIP through FY 2019. Last year, CHIP funding was extended through FY 2017 maintaining an important source of coverage for about 8 million children.…

  • Administration’s Budget Proposal Would Make Medicaid Expansion an Even Better Deal for Wisconsin and Other States

    Guest

    By Jon Peacock and Sashi Gregory, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families The proposed budget released this week by President Obama would make the expansion of Medicaid an even better deal for states like Wisconsin that have not yet taken up the option. If Wisconsin expanded BadgerCare (Wisconsin’s Medicaid program) eligibility in January 2017, the…

  • A Wrap up of 2015 Medicaid Expansion Waivers: Montana And Michigan

    Joan Alker

    By Sean Miskell and Joan Alker Although we have been closely following Medicaid expansion waivers, we have neglected heretofore to blog about two “M” states that received waiver approval in the last few months of 2015. Montana received approval on November 2, 2015 to start its new coverage on January 1, 2016, and Michigan received…

  • 1095B Forms May Cause Problems for Enrollees Who Transition from Marketplace to Medicaid Coverage

    Tricia Brooks

    It’s tax time, and there is more to be said about the many issues that swirl around reconciliation of premium tax credits and accurate assessment of the penalty for going without health insurance. But there is one issue in particular that I am worried about for consumers who were enrolled in a Marketplace plan with…

  • 2016 Federal Poverty Levels Are Out; What Does This Mean for the Marketplace and Medicaid?

    Tricia Brooks

    Last week, the 2016 federal poverty levels (FPL) were published in the federal register. How does this impact consumers applying for coverage through the Marketplace, Medicaid or CHIP? Let’s start with eligibility for Marketplace subsidies. For 2016 calendar year coverage, regardless of when someone applies or enrolls, eligibility is based on the 2015 FPL levels.…

  • Children of Unauthorized Immigrant Parents Exposed to More Risk Factors

    CCFadmin

    By John Allison A new report released by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), studying U.S. children with unauthorized immigrant parents, has found that such children are more exposed to risk factors that impact their well-being and future, and that this is unlikely to change without a change in immigration policy. Here’s what the report found:…

  • “Healthy Students” Initiative Seeks to Help Children Achieve Better Health & Academic Success

    Cathy Hope

    Health care coverage helps children show up for school ready to learn and provides parents with the peace of mind of knowing they can afford to get their children the care they need to succeed.  Sadly, many of America’s children are going without affordable coverage even though they are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but…

  • Little Known Provision Keeps Kids From Slipping Through Cracks Due to Differences in Eligibility Rules

    Tricia Brooks

    For the most part, the Affordable Care Act aligns the way that Medicaid determines eligibility based on the same Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) rules used to determine eligibility for financial assistance in the Marketplace. But there are exceptions in Medicaid as I outlined in this blog. The differences can mean that an individual is…

  • Survey Shows States Made Significant Progress Implementing Data-Driven Eligibility in Medicaid

    Tricia Brooks

    Eligibility decisions made in real-time or overnight when someone submits a Medicaid application? Automated determinations of ongoing eligibility at renewal without requiring enrollees to fill out forms or send in paperwork? It wasn’t too long ago that many Medicaid stakeholders would have thought those were pie-in-the sky notions. Yet, thanks to new high-performing eligibility systems…

  • Closing the Medicaid Coverage Gap 101 (Video)

    Adam Searing

    Have trouble explaining the Medicaid coverage gap to friends and neighbors in two minutes and thirty seconds? Want to talk about families with young children in the gap, the effect on hospitals and the fact that the majority of folks in the Medicaid gap are working? This short, animated informational video has the answers:

  • With gains in health coverage, Latino children also gain more equitable opportunities.

    Sonya Schwartz

    By Steven Lopez, Health Policy Project, NCLR and Sonya Scwhartz, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families Our new report with National Council of La Raza finds that the uninsured rate for Hispanic kids hit a historic low and the coverage gap between Hispanic kids and their peers narrowed considerably in 2014, the year the Affordable Care…

  • Louisiana Governor Edwards signs the executive order expanding Medicaid in Louisiana (Video)

    Adam Searing

    On January 12, 2016 newly-elected Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed the executive order expanding Medicaid in Louisiana. This shouldn’t be a surprise – Medicaid expansion was a major issue in the campaign, with all candidates regardless of party pledging some sort of Medicaid expansion plans. However, Edwards was unequivocal during the campaign that he…

  • A Gift for New Parents for the New Year

    Guest

    by Lorraine Gonzalez, Kate Breslin and Elisabeth Benjamin, Health Care for All NY On December 22, 2015, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law (S4745/A7155) that will a­­­llow babies born into low and middle-income New York families eligible for the Child Health Plus (CHP), New York’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), from the day that…

  • Arizona Kids are Falling Through the Cracks Without Active KidsCare Program

    Guest

    by Joe Fu, Children’s Action Alliance For the fifth year in a row, Arizona had the third highest child uninsured rate in the nation. In 2014, 10% of Arizona’s children were uninsured compared to about 6% nationally, according to a new report we released this week with Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. This…

  • Awakening the Force of Two-Generations’ (Children and their Parents) Coverage, Access and Affordability: Historic Gains Worth Celebrating in 2016

    Guest

    By Liane Wong, Dr.P.H. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation While there’s been an incredible amount of buzz around the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” this December, a less heralded moment in history was made at the end of 2015. But it’s history worth celebrating for our nation’s families and children, and one…