Blog
-
Two Points: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Manatt Report on State Medicaid Savings
Working with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Manatt analysts today released a report documenting the greater than $1.8 billion of state budget savings and increased revenues across eight states resulting from the decision to expand Medicaid. It’s a great report – well-documented and well worth reading – but two points really stood out for me…
-
Fact-checking the Florida Medicaid Debate
There continues to be confusion and misinformation abounding in Florida on the issue of federal Medicaid funding. This year the state is giving up approximately $5 billion in federal funds that are available under the Affordable Care Act to extend Medicaid coverage to uninsured Floridians at no cost to the state. The only reason that…
-
Access to Care in CHIP & Medicaid Strong (CCF’s C-SPAN Debut!)
This week started out on a high, since I had the pleasure of heading over to C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to talk about my favorite topic of late: the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). (Shout out to my father, Larry Wright, who is arguably CSPAN’s #1 fan in Arkansas and could have only been more excited…
-
Tennessee Senator Doug Overbey (R) Makes the Case for Insure Tennessee
In Tennessee, Governor Bill Haslam’s plan to use the Medicaid expansion funding available under the Affordable Care Act – the “Insure Tennessee” plan – is starting to move again this week. The Tennessee Justice Center put together this short excerpt of one of the leading Republican proponents of the Insure Tennessee plan making the case.…
-
The Affordable Care Act and Entrepreneurship
By Sean Miskell This week, numerous media outlets reported that Senator Ted Cruz may sign up for health coverage through the insurance marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While the Washington Post calls this development the “irony of all ironies” given Cruz’s seemingly unrelenting opposition to the ACA, this is exactly the kind…
-
House Passes 2 Year CHIP Extension Included in ‘SGR’ Compromise Deal
Editor’s Note UPDATE: Yesterday, the House passed this SGR-CHIP package, H.R.2, by a tremendous bipartisan vote (392-37-4). Despite attempts by Senate leadership to get a vote to the floor before their recess, it looks like they will be taking the package up when they return April 13th. Stay tuned… We’ve all been watching developments on…
-
NHIS Shows Stagnation in Children’s Uninsurance Rates Persists
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released early estimates from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) on rates of health coverage in the first three quarters of 2014 (January through September). NHIS estimates provide preliminary evidence of how implementation of major provisions of the ACA – including Medicaid expansion and health insurance exchange marketplaces –…
-
Report: Overlap Issuers Could Narrow Coverage Gaps, Mitigate Churn
By Margaret A. Murray, CEO and Jennifer Mcguigan Babcock, VP for Exchange Policy Association for Community Affiliated Plans Last month, our organization – the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) – issued a study that found that about 4 in 10 organizations offering coverage through Qualified Health Plans (QHP) in Health Insurance Marketplaces operate a…
-
ACA Turns Five: Reflecting on the Past and Looking Forward to the Future
By Sean Miskell Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law five years ago today, health reform has unfolded in fits and starts amid political opposition and staggered implementation of its insurance market reforms and coverage expansions. But as a result of these occasionally frantic first years of implementation, children and families now have improved…
-
New Report Finds ACA Had Little Impact on Employer Sponsored Health Plan Enrollment
The Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate on large businesses barely had an impact on enrollment in employer-sponsored health plan enrollment in the past year, according to a new survey released by Mercer, a human resources consulting firm. Between 2014 and 2105, employers reported very little change regarding the average number of full- and part-time workers…
-
Reports: Job Creation Up, Hospital Costs & Uninsured Rates Down in Medicaid Expansion States
The US Department of Health and Human Services has two new short briefs out today assembling the most recent research and reports on the economic impact of Medicaid expansion across the country. The data on the huge drop in uncompensated care costs among hospitals is particularly startling. The reports also note recent overall economic impact…
-
What’s at stake without a quick, clean renewal of CHIP funding? Our historic success covering kids.
A timely analysis from our friends at the Urban Institute this week quantifies the high stakes of the current deal making around CHIP. The outcome, along with the looming Supreme Court decision, will determine whether we move backwards on our success covering children or maintain the strong system of coverage that has successfully served low-income…
-
Medicaid Block Grant Plan Resurfaces in Budget Proposals – Would Shift Costs to States
By Sean Miskell Though my creative side longs to contribute novel analysis and insight to the health policy world, too often reality makes doing so difficult. Such is the case this week, as both the House and Senate Budget Committee have submitted proposals that would restructure Medicaid as a block grant to states and repeal…
-
Tennessee: Medicaid Expansion is a Debate Among Conservatives (Video)
Given the highly charged partisan nature of debate over the Affordable Care Act, sometimes it’s easy to forget that the debate in states over accepting the ACA’s funding for state Medicaid expansion efforts is largely a debate among Republicans. In Washington the ideological debate between the parties centers around repeal of the ACA. In the states however,…
-
Florida Consumer Reporter Takes on Complicated Task of Explaining the Coverage Gap
Say Ahhh! is excited to welcome Florida Legal Services to the health policy blogosphere. The new blog will focus on issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion, and Medicaid Managed Care in Florida. Contributors include staff members working on health law throughout the state of Florida. Please check out this fantastic new resource for those…
-
Good News for Kids: Bipartisan Support for CHIP Emerging in Congress
Since CHIP’s inception it has been described as a bipartisan program with support from both Republicans and Democrats at both the state and federal levels. In a time of intense partisanship in health policy, whether this would hold true as Congress considered the extension of CHIP funding this year was an open question. As readers…
-
States Can’t Always Be Relied On To Do The Right Thing For Kids
By Joan Alker and Sean Miskell, As Congress continues to mull over the future of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, we at CCF continue to mull over the policy implications for children of various proposals put forth. As regular readers of Say Ahhh! know, a recently released discussion draft by Senator Hatch, and Reps Upton…
-
Confused About What Happens at Tax Time (Part Two)? 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. Q: Are noncitizens subject to the tax penalty (or the individual shared responsibility…
-
MACPAC to Congress: Extend CHIP Funding and Maintain Current Program Structure
On Tuesday, MACPAC released a comment letter to the Chairman and Ranking Members of the Senate Committee on Finance and House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. In the letter, commissioners urge Congress to extend funding for CHIP quickly and cleanly for two more years and reiterate their support for the program. The MACPAC…
-
Florida Senate Comes Out Swinging to Close the Coverage Gap
Last week the Florida legislature began its regular session – scheduled to end in the first week in May. As regular readers of Say Ahhh!! know, I have been expecting a more robust debate there this year due to the expiration of the Low Income Pool funding that Florida receives through its Section 1115 waiver…