Say Ahhh!
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Early Evidence that ACA Improves Coverage of Hispanics
The CDC survey data released earlier this week provides hope that the ACA can improve coverage rates for Hispanics, a group with persistently high rates of uninsurance. In the first three months of 2014, the percentage of uninsured Hispanics decreased from 30.3% to 27.2%. This is particularly hopeful because we know that many more people…
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Health Insurance Rates Remain Steady Among Children, According to ACS
For background information regarding the 2013 American Community Survey, please review our blog Data Debrief: Overview of the ACS and CPS. On Thursday, the US Census Bureau released 2013 American Community Survey data. In accordance with the CPS, as well as recent federal and private surveys, children’s health insurance rates remained steady last year. According…
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At Senate Hearing on CHIP, Panelists Warn of Disruption
Yesterday the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on the future of Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), putting the need to extend funding front and center for members of the committee, which has jurisdiction over CHIP and Medicaid. Subcommittee members heard testimony from the following panelists: Bruce Lesley, President, First Focus James…
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What the CPS Says About Our Children’s Well-being
What the CPS Says About Our Children’s Well-being For background information regarding the 2013 Current Population Survey, please review our blog Data Debrief: Overview of the ACS and CPS. On Tuesday, the US Census Bureau published Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013, which details the results of the Current Population Survey Annual Social…
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CDC Survey Finds Uninsured Rate Drops for Adults, Remains Steady for Kids
In the rapidly changing health coverage landscape, getting an accurate snapshot of what’s happening to uninsured rates is a bit like trying to get a good photo of your new puppy sitting and smiling for the camera. Today, we got one of the most rigorous and timely snapshots that we can possibly get from a…
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Data Debrief: Overview of the ACS and CPS
On Tuesday, September 16th, the US Census Bureau will issue two reports: Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013 and Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013. The former analyzes data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and the latter uses the Current Population Survey (CPS). With the release of the most recent…
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Advocating for Children’s Coverage Under the Medicaid Expansion Option
By Dr. Liane Wong, Health Leader and Program Officer, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation For those up-to-date Say Ahhh! readers, Adam Searing recently wrote about the more compelling reasons – namely $423.6 billion federal dollars plus billions of uncompensated care funds to hospitals – why it’s getting much harder for Governors to turn down Medicaid…
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Medicaid Matters For Children: Alabama’s Investment in Extending the Medicaid Payment Increase
By Dr. Marsha Raulerson, Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics Across the country, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide health coverage to more than 43 million children, including half of all low-income children in the United States. This summer, I cared for one of those children. In August, a 17 year old…
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Rural Children Rely on Medicaid and CHIP More than Ever
By Carrie Fitzgerald, First Focus A report released today by First Focus shows that in rural parts of the country, children are covered by public insurance sources (Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP) at a rate higher than their urban counterparts. In 2012, Medicaid and CHIP covered 47 percent of rural children compared to…
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We Can Fix This, People! More than Half of Uninsured Parents Are Hispanic
New data zeroes in on a subgroup of uninsured adults not always studied: uninsured parents. An Urban Institute report released yesterday found that more than half (57 percent) of uninsured parents surveyed in March/June 2014 were Hispanic and more than one-third (38.4 percent) said their primary language was Spanish. While I know this does not…
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A First Look at How the Affordable Care Act is Affecting Coverage among Parents and Children
Editor’s Note: This blog originally appeared on the Health Affairs blog. By Joan Alker, Georgetown CCF and Genevieve M. Kenney, Urban Institute Following the implementation of the major coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014, the question arises: “How is the health law affecting uninsured children and their families?” Today, the Urban…
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Looking Under the ACA Hood to Check on How Uninsured Children are Doing
Recently, CCF teamed up with the researchers at the Urban Institute to take a first look at how the Affordable Care Act is impacting the rate of uninsured children. The high level data indicates that, so far, there has been no detectable change nationally, although children’s uninsured rates remains at historically low levels. But state…
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What’s happening on the ground in Arkansas besides today’s GAO report
I’ll leave it up to my colleague and longtime Medicaid waiver expert Joan Alker to opine on the differences between today’s Government Accounting Office report on the Arkansas Medicaid waiver’s financial predictions and the US Department of Health and Human Services financial model for the state. However, I will just make these three points about…
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Medicaid Expansion Tipping Point: The three reasons why reluctant states like Pennsylvania are warming up to Medicaid
It’s getting harder and harder for Governors to say no to the great deal being offered to them through the Medicaid expansion option. Just last week Pennsylvania reached agreement with the federal government on a Medicaid expansion waiver and news stories show possible movement in Wyoming, Utah and Tennessee. This new momentum forward shows that…
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Do Nothing to Renew or Get an Updated Eligibility Determination? CMS Puts out Final Marketplace Renewal Rules
CMS has adopted the proposed rules for QHP renewal and redetermination of premium tax credits published with very few changes. As I wrote in this blog, the good news is that the final rules provide an opportunity for consumers to be automatically re-enrolled in the same or a similar plan without taking action. The downside…
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Pennsylvania Becomes 28th State to Expand Medicaid, Governor Compromises on Many of His Requests….
As readers of Say Ahhh! know, we have been closely watching the path of Governor Corbett’s proposal for Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion known as “Healthy PA.” Today, the governor received official approval for his Medicaid Section 1115 Research and Demonstration proposal. Pennsylvania becomes the 28th state (including DC) to expand Medicaid. I have blogged previously about…
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Spread the Word: Deadline One Week Away for Immigrant Communities Needing to Verify Marketplace Eligibility
Immigrant communities face a critical deadline on Friday, September 5: submit additional documentation to verify their citizenship or immigration status, or potentially lose health coverage through the marketplace at the end of September. Yesterday we helped sponsor a press briefing primarily for ethnic media to help spread the word and educate immigrant communities about the…
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CMS Offers Flexible Strategies for Medicaid and CHIP Renewals
Say Ahhh! readers know that I’m bullish on using technology to move Medicaid and CHIP toward data-driven, real time eligibility and enrollment. But having worked through the implementation of a new system as a CHIP director, I know how challenging this task can be. On top of that, Medicaid and CHIP are undergoing a full…
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Healthy Lives Require Early Investments in Both Children and Parents
By Sean Miskell “The earliest years of our lives set us on paths leading toward – or away from – good health.” — RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America Evidence increasingly shows that the experiences children have when they are young have a lasting impact on their lifelong health and well-being. A new issue…
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How Does Coverage Gap Impact Parents and Kids in States Turning Down Medicaid Expansion Funds?
We know that thanks to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, America’s children are – overall – benefiting from historically high rates of health coverage (over 90% of U.S. children are now covered) even through some states still lag behind. However, low-income parents of dependent children around the country are not so fortunate if…