XBluesky

Blog

  • Indiana Becomes the 29th State (Including DC) to Expand Medicaid

    Joan Alker

    [Editor’s Note:  The terms and conditions and letter issued by federal CMS are available through these links: agreement, special terms and conditions and letter.] Today Governor Mike Pence received approval from federal CMS for a Section 1115 waiver to implement his Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP2.0) and extend coverage to as many as 350,000 Hoosiers –…

  • Indiana Agreement Wins the Award for Bureaucratic Complexity and Red Tape

    Joan Alker

    I am still waiting for paper but here is what I know about Indiana so far. The good news is that Indiana becomes the 29th state (including D.C.) to extend Medicaid coverage. The less than good news is that this is an enormously complicated program which will likely prevent some low-income adults from getting the…

  • Medicaid Primary Care Rate Bump Increases Access, study finds

    CCFadmin

    By Sophia Duong The Medicaid primary care bump now joins the likes of Emily Dickinson and Vincent Van Gogh – those that received credit only after their passing. After two years of raising Medicaid primary care rates up to Medicare levels, the rate bump expired on December 31, 2014. But weeks after its expiration, a…

  • CMS Clarifies Health Coverage Options for Low-Income Pregnant Women

    Cathy Hope

    It’s critical that expectant mothers have access to comprehensive, affordable coverage and continuity of care during this critical time of life. The Affordable Care Act expanded coverage options for pregnant women but the intersection of these changes to the law with other state and federal policies is a bit confusing to untangle. Recent federal guidance…

  • A Fond Farewell to CCF

    CCFadmin

    By Joe Touschner When I came to CCF in March of 2008, Senators Obama and Clinton were talking a lot about health reform on the campaign trail, but the Affordable Care Act was unwritten and still two years away from enactment. The median income eligibility threshold for children’s coverage across the states was 200% of…

  • Kaiser Family Foundation & CCF Release 50-State Survey on Medicaid and CHIP

    Tricia Brooks

    It’s that time again – the release of the annual 50-state survey on Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, enrollment, renewal and cost-sharing policies conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Today, my co-authors from Kaiser – Samantha Artiga, Jessica Stephens, and Alexandra…

  • The Importance of Medicaid Expansion to Improve Children’s Health Insurance Rates

    Alisa Chester

    By Alisa Chester and Sarah Koslov This week, two important studies confirmed our understanding that improving access to Medicaid and CHIP for children is a financially sound public investment that not only leads to greater health coverage rates but also results in increased college attendance, lower mortality rates, and higher earned wages. Together, the research…

  • What Can Policy Makers Learn from Experiences of Arizona Children Who Lost CHIP Coverage?

    Joan Alker

    Fourteen thousand children in Arizona lost their health insurance at the end of January 2014 when the state ended its KidsCare program for low-income children, becoming the only state in the country without an active Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Today we released two new reports on how those cuts to children’s coverage impacted Arizona…

  • CCF to MACPAC: CHIP Should Continue While Policymakers Work to Improve Marketplace Coverage for Kids

    CCFadmin

    By Sean Miskell As the expiration of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) approaches and policy makers consider its role in the new health coverage landscape, it’s a good time to take stock of CHIP coverage and whether or not comparable and affordable coverage is available to families through the new health insurance…

  • Governor Haslam Announces Details of His Tennessee Medicaid Expansion Waiver

    Joan Alker

    Yesterday, Governor Haslam put some meat on the bones of the “Insure Tennessee” plan when he released more details about his version of Medicaid expansion. The Governor also called for a special session of the legislature to consider his plan to commence on Feb. 2nd. One highly publicized feature of the Tennessee plan is that…

  • Are People in Immigrant Families Gaining Coverage Under Health Reform?

    Sonya Schwartz

    I tried to answer this question for a presentation at an immigration conference right before the holidays. Unfortunately, although we are in our second open enrollment season under health reform, we can’t fully answer this question yet. What we do know indicates that we are making some progress but have a lot more work to…

  • Medicaid to 26: Reaching out to Former Foster Youth

    Guest

    By Kari Siddiqui, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy One of the most popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turned 26. However, less talked about are the strides the ACA made for youth who were in foster care. Recognizing that young…

  • 49 National Groups to MACPAC: Keep CHIP While Improving Exchanges for Kids

    Elisabeth Wright Burak

    Compared to what?! – This line is a favorite of my four-year-old from the popular Marcel the Shell with Shoes On web series. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing as I have many times, Marcel makes funny observations about his role and size in the world. The full quote (which you can see…

  • Tennessee Proposal Highlights Importance of Medicaid Expansion for Residents and Providers

    CCFadmin

    By Sean Miskell This week, Governor Haslam announced his plan to expand Medicaid via a two-year pilot program called Insure Tennessee. Like other formerly recalcitrant states that are now embracing expansion, Tennessee is pursuing a state-specific approach that differs from ‘traditional’ Medicaid expansion. One element of this plan – in which the Tennessee Hospital Association…

  • Reports this Week: Multiple States Mulling Medicaid Expansion

    Adam Searing

    There has been some interesting movement this past week around the Medicaid expansion issue, especially in Tennessee.  One emerging theme continues – development of state-created alternative plans to use the Medicaid dollars while still extending health coverage to newly eligible low-income adults.  Here are some of the more interesting stories: Obviously Tennessee leads here with…

  • CDC Survey Shows Uninsured Rate Continues to Drop for Adults, Remains Steady for Kids

    Joan Alker

    Yesterday we heard more good news about declining uninsured rates for adults – especially in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act – while uninsured rates for children continue to hold steady. These were some of the findings included in the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) report for the first six months of…

  • How Do Minimum Essential Coverage and Minimum Value Tests Impact Consumers with Employer-Offered Coverage

    Guest

    By JoAnn Volk and Sandy Ahn, Center on Health Insurance Reforms Open enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplaces overlaps this year with many employer plan open enrollment periods, which has prompted some employees to ask questions about how their offer of employer coverage may affect their eligibility for premium tax credits for a marketplace plan.…

  • Communicating the Connection between Parent’s and Children’s Health in States Expanding Medicaid

    Guest

    By Liane Wong, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation It should be common sense to say that policies and programs which improve the health and well-being of parents will also help their children, right? I recently joined the Aspen Institute’s ThinkXChange to discuss priorities and emerging opportunities across the country to develop two generation approaches—where…

  • How Much is the Federal Government Spending on Children?

    Alisa Chester

    December’s issue of Health Affairs is dedicated to the subject of children’s health, particularly how children fare in the national health care system. The Scheduled Squeeze On Children’s Programs: Tracking The Implications of Projected Federal Spending Patterns, written by Urban Institute scholars C. Eugene Steuerle and Julia B. Isaacs, reviews how the federal government funds…

  • A Step Forward For Lawfully Present Immigrants Living in Poverty

    Sonya Schwartz

    It’s no secret that during last year’s open enrollment many applicants for health coverage in immigrant families faced major barriers to enrolling in marketplace coverage. One big problem was that lawfully present immigrants with income under 100 percent FPL—who are ineligible for Medicaid based on their immigration status but are eligible for premium tax credits…