Say Ahhh!
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Report Underscores Connection Between Children’s Health and Educational Opportunity
By Sean Miskell Access to quality health coverage for children is certainly important for its own sake, and evidence increasingly suggests the way in which health is connected to other crucial aspect’s of children’s development such as education. A new report from the Education Commission of the States sheds further light on these connections and…
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One Small Step Forward for Transparency & Regulatory Oversight
By Sabrina Corlette, Center on Health Insurance Reforms We at CHIR have been urging the federal agencies responsible for implementing the Affordable Care Act (the Departments of Health & Human Services, Labor and Treasury, often called the “tri-agencies”) to move forward with two key provisions designed to improve health plan transparency and regulatory oversight. The…
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How will Premium Rate Changes Affect Consumers’ Renewals into Marketplace Coverage?
By Sandy Ahn, Center on Health Insurance Reforms In a few weeks we’ll know just to what extent premium rates have changed for marketplace health plans in 2016 as states conclude their rate reviews by August 25. As we found in a recent report examining consumers’ renewal experiences in six state-based marketplaces, price is the…
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A Look at the Latest Controversy Brewing over the ACA: The Annual Limit on Out-of Pocket Costs
By JoAnn Volk, Center on Health Insurance Reforms The latest dust up in Washington is a fight between the Obama Administration and employer groups over the Affordable Care Act provision that limits consumers’ annual out-of-pocket costs. Employers are concerned that recent administration guidance “clarifying” the rules to implement this policy will increase their costs, particularly…
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Proposed Rule Will Improve Medicaid Managed Care
After much anticipation, CMS published a notice of proposed rulemaking on Medicaid and CHIP managed care early this summer. The proposed rule includes many changes centering around five principles: alignment with other coverage options; delivery system reform; payment and accountability improvements; beneficiary protections; and modernizing regulatory requirements and improving the quality of care. It also…
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Coverage for Immigrant Children and Families in California
Now Playing: Coverage for more than 400,000 children and youth Coming Soon: Coverage for more than 800,000 additional immigrant children, youth and parents This week, Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families and The Children’s Partnership released a new paper outlining how to get ready for big coverage opportunities in California. It highlights opportunities that will…
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Getting Ready for OE3 – New Kaiser Family Foundation Survey Provides Helpful Lessons
By Hannah Ellison and Sabrina Corlette, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms It’s the dog days of August and many of us are in beach mode, but we at CHIR are getting geared up. We’re just 12 weeks away from the start of the third open enrollment period (OE3) for the Affordable Care Act’s health…
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Recommendations for Changes to the Child Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures
When CHIP was reauthorized in 2009, it laid out a new agenda for measuring and improving health care quality for children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. CHIPRA called for the development of a Child Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures (which states voluntarily report) and launched a new Pediatric Quality Measures Program that, among…
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State and National Experts Convene to Discuss Early Childhood Developmental Screenings and Referrals
By Carrie Fitzgerald, Vice President of Children’s Health Programs at First Focus, Here’s something almost everyone who reads this blog already knows: the first three years of a child’s life are a critical time for brain development. Our brains are most adaptable during early childhood, and early intervention and treatment for conditions, disorders, and developmental…
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Proposed Legislation Will Fix Medicaid Glitch for Former Foster Youth Who Move
I’ve written before about an unintended flaw in the Affordable Care Act that relates to Medicaid eligibility for former foster youth. The simple use of the words “the” versus “a” state has led to an interpretation of the law that allows states to deny coverage to young adults who were in foster care in a…
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Even Though it is Turning 50, Medicaid is Still a Children’s Program
Today marks 50 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicaid program into law in 1965. The program has continued to evolve since then – playing a key role in our health care system serving low-income families, people with disabilities, HIV, and those receiving long term care. The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid eligibility for…
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Medicaid Provides an Excellent Long-Term Return on Investment
By Alisa Chester and Joan Alker As our nation marks Medicaid’s 50th anniversary of service to the nation this week, it’s a good time to reflect on how this federal-state partnership program is making a difference – especially for children and families. As has been widely discussed, Medicaid has been instrumental to our nation’s historic…
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Celebrating 10 Years of Working Together to Improve Health Coverage for Children and Families
Last night, we celebrated ten years of success with our state and national partners. Liane Wong of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation MC’d the event. On behalf of CCF and the Foundation, she thanked all of those in the room saying: “It takes a village and YOU are the CCF village.” Liane singled out…
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Georgetown CCF Releases Report Finding Parents and Children Benefit from Closing North Carolina’s Medicaid Coverage Gap (Video)
Joan Alker, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families Executive Director, discusses CCF’s new report on how parents and kids benefit from closing North Carolina’s Medicaid coverage gap on on the NC radio show News & Views with Chris Fitzsimon. CCF traveled to North Carolina to release the report in partnership with NC Child and the NC Health Access…
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Congressional Hearing Highlights Medicaid’s Success After 50 Years, Looks Ahead
By Sean Miskell Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing that provided an opportunity for lawmakers, administrators, and experts to acknowledge the foundational role that Medicaid plays as a source of coverage for millions of Americans and consider how the program will continue to evolve moving forward. Testimony from the Centers…
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Groups: CMS Should Reject Iowa’s Request to Continue Waiving Non-emergency Medical Transportation Benefits
This week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, CCF and 10 other organizations submitted a comment letter regarding Iowa’s proposed section 1115 amendment to extend their waiver of the non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) benefit. While we continue to support Iowa’s decision to provide coverage to newly eligible low-income adults, we hope that CMS will…
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CHIP Increases Children’s Access to Dental Care and Reduces Their Unmet Dental Care Needs
By Sophia Duong Tooth decay still remains the most common chronic disease for children in the U.S. today. Progress has been made to address this problem, including a provision in CHIPRA that expanded dental coverage for all children enrolled in CHIP. CHIP has been a vital source of dental health coverage for low-to-middle income children.…
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Children’s Needs – Not Programs – Should Drive Conversations About Future Coverage
The ink is barely dry on the law extending the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding through 2017, and I’m already hearing rumblings in the health policy community foreshadowing the program’s inevitable demise in 2017. I’ve heard phrases such as: “when CHIP ends”; “How do we best phase out CHIP?” and “We assume CHIP will not…
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Looking Forward to Seeing You at CCF’s Annual Conference
By Sophia Duong What do all of these people have in common? They’re all speaking at our annual conference this summer! This year we will be at the Marriott at Georgetown from July 21-23, 2015 reflecting on the strong foundation of children’s health coverage we have achieved, while also looking to the future of our…
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Video Highlights of Joan Alker’s Testimony Before Congressional Committee on Medicaid Waivers
As loyal Say Ahhh! readers know, Joan Alker has been a devout Medicaid Section 1115 “waiver watcher” for many, many years. She was happy to share her knowledge on the topic with the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health this week. We’ll have more to say about the issues covered by the hearing in…
