Blog
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FAQ: Health Marketplace Tax Penalties, Exemptions, Reconciliation, and Special Enrollment Periods
By Tricia Brooks, Sandy Ahn, Sabrina Corlette, and JoAnn Volk, this was originally posted March 9, 2015 under the title “Confused about What Happens at Tax Time? FAQs on Penalties, Exemptions, Reconciliation, and SEPs“. As part of our Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded work in providing technical assistance to consumer assisters in five states, we…
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Some Tax Guidance for People in Immigrant Families
Now that we are knee-deep in tax season, we have heard reports of confusion about new tax filing rules related to health coverage for people in immigrant families. Here are some of the common questions we’ve heard so far and our answers. Related Content: ICHIA Fact Sheet: CHIP and Health Coverage for Lawfully Residing Children…
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IRS Issues Guidance on Overlapping Medicaid and Marketplace Coverage
At last, we have IRS guidance informing consumers and tax preparers about issues with overlapping coverage through Medicaid and the Marketplace. I described this problem in a recent blog, highlighting the confusion that could result from 1095 forms showing dual coverage in Medicaid and the Marketplace. We have been concerned that during the tax reconciliation…
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How Milwaukee Won the White House Healthy Communities Challenge
In November, the White House launched a “Healthy Communities Challenge” and identified twenty cities with large numbers or high percentages of uninsured individuals to compete in enrolling new people in plans during OE3. Through this challenge, communities made concentrated efforts to reach remaining uninsured individuals and helped connect them to coverage. Good news and hearty…
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EPSDT: A Primer on Medicaid’s Pediatric Benefit
Children enrolled in Medicaid are entitled to a comprehensive array of preventive and ameliorative care through the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit. Beyond the indecipherable acronym, EPSDT is a critically important benefit that is broadly recognized as the definitive standard for children. We’ve broken down the acronym in this fact sheet,…
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Michigan’s Governor Turns to Medicaid in Flint Crisis
We have often said that one of the very important features of Medicaid’s financing structure is the program’s ability to address emerging short and long-term public health crises. And previous national emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina and 9-11 also resulted in state leaders of all political persuasions looking to Medicaid to help them address critical…
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CMS Releases 2015 Report on the Quality of Health Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP
Now that CMS has released the fifth annual Quality of Health Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP, let’s take a look at the highlights of the children’s report. First, some background: the 2009 CHIP Reauthorization Act launched a wide-ranging set of initiatives to advance pediatric health care quality measurement and improvement. At the top…
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One More Chance to Comment on SBC Changes
Originally posted on the CHIRblog. Last week, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury and Labor released a proposed revised template for the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC), giving the public 30 days to comment before these long-coming changes are finalized. The process for implementing changes to the SBC template began in December…
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Healthcare.gov Changing Approach to Special Enrollment Periods, May be Bumpy Road for Consumers
This was originally posted on the CHIRblog. Lost your job? Moving to a new area? Having a baby? Make sure you have documentation of these life events if you want health insurance through healthcare.gov. Recently announced, the administration will now require verifying documents from consumers who enroll or change their plans using a special enrollment…
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A Roadmap For Getting Enrollment Right for Immigrant Families
The Affordable Care Act brought the promise of affordable coverage to many lawfully present immigrants who are ineligible for Medicaid and CHIP due to longstanding immigrant eligibility restrictions. But, despite the overarching goal of increasing coverage for immigrant families through the health insurance marketplace, many continue to face challenges when applying for coverage on healthcare.gov.…
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GAO Report Raises Concerns About Waiving Medicaid Transportation Benefits
By Sean Miskell As states debating whether to expand Medicaid (and some that already have) consider changes to their Medicaid programs via 1115 waivers, one proposal that keeps popping up is the elimination of non-emergency medical transportation benefits (NEMT). This week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on state efforts to waive NEMT…
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SHADAC Report Echoes Good News on Uninsured Rate for Children
The State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) published its annual report “State Level Trends in Children’s Health Insurance Coverage” and it is an excellent state resource on children’s health coverage rates. Similar to Georgetown’s annual report on children’s health insurance, SHADAC reports on state-by-state coverage rates for children and provides additional data on children’s…
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States Innovation Waivers under the ACA: A Closer Look at the Updated Federal Guidance and State Proposals
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.…
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Commonwealth Fund Tool Demonstrates Effects of State Efforts to Expand Coverage and Improve Enrollment
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…
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CCF Research Helps Inform Debate over Reinstating Arizona KidsCare
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…
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More Evidence that Medicaid Expansion Improves the Lives of Low-Income Parents
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…
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CMS Releases State-by-State Designations of Whether Certain Medicaid Categories Meet Minimum Essential Coverage Standards
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…
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President’s Final Budget Includes Several Provisions to Help Children and Families
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.…
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Administration’s Budget Proposal Would Make Medicaid Expansion an Even Better Deal for Wisconsin and Other States
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…
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A Wrap up of 2015 Medicaid Expansion Waivers: Montana And Michigan
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…
