Blog
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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…
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King v Burwell: An Exercise in Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing
By Tim Westmoreland, Georgetown University O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Everyone within reach of an electronic device already knows that the Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA) again today. Tax subsidies can continue to assist low-income people in States that do not establish their own insurance exchanges. The death spiral…
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King, Access to Care, Alternative Plans – States Running Out of Excuses for Failing to Act on Medicaid
The message from the Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell case yesterday was pretty simple for people interested in following the Medicaid expansion debate in the states. Now that it’s clear access to affordable coverage is here to stay for people above the poverty line, states that haven’t taken the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid funding to extend…
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Florida Governor Scott Drops LIP Lawsuit, Declares Victory???
Acting right on the heels of the historic decision affirming the Affordable Care Act in King v. Burwell, Florida Governor Rick Scott withdrew his lawsuit against the Obama Administration on the state’s Low Income Pool. That was a wise decision in my view, as the suit had no merit (in my purely non-legal opinion). But…
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Highest Court in the Land Upholds the Affordable Care Act (Twice)!
Just like most of you, I took a deep breath when I saw the Supreme Court decision in King v Burwell announced today. Here at CCF, we all high-fived but now I’m lamenting the fact that we had to waste all of this time and energy worrying about what would happen if the opponents of…
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Time to Celebrate! California Will Provide Health Coverage for All Kids, Regardless of Immigration Status
It is now time to uncork the champagne and celebrate! California’s Governor, Jerry Brown, signed a budget that includes health coverage for all low-income children, regardless of immigration status today. Under the signed budget, California will provide coverage for allow-income children regardless of immigration status. Coverage would begin in May 2016. The expansion is projected…
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Parents Value Affordability and Benefits (not whole-family plans) in Children’s Coverage
Last week our colleagues at the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured released a new report that children’s advocates, in particular, will find helpful, if not surprising. Helpful because it allows us to hear directly from parents about their children’s coverage experiences and what they value most. Kaiser’s research team conducted 14 focus groups…
