Blog
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We Can Reach the Finish Line on Health Coverage for Hispanic Kids
Ensuring that every child in America has the protection of health care coverage is an attainable goal. Today, in partnership with National Council of La Raza, we released a 50-state analysis of health coverage for Hispanic children. Our analysis found that Washington, DC is just a step away from the finish line already with 99…
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We Can Reach the Finishline on Health Coverage for Hispanic Kids
Ensuring that every child in America has the protection of health care coverage is an attainable goal. Today, in partnership with National Council of La Raza, we released a 50-state analysis of health coverage for Hispanic children. Our analysis found that Washington, DC is just a step away from the finish line already with 99…
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The Family Glitch Persists, Affordability Measure Increases to 9.56% in OE2
Everyone agrees it’s not fair to families and is an unintended consequence of how the Affordable Care Act is being implemented. But somehow our country’s leaders just cannot reach a consensus on fixing the family glitch. Families caught up in the glitch cannot qualify for premium tax credits to reduce the cost of a marketplace…
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Essential Health Benefits Across the States
By Joe Touschner Who remembers the essential health benefits? It was more than two years ago when JoAnn Volk filled us in on the plans states were choosing as their benchmarks to help set the minimum benefits in individual and small group market plans. More recently, Wakely Consulting offered a very helpful comparison of benefits…
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What Does the Election Mean for the Future of Children’s Coverage?
As the dust settles on this year’s mid-terms and talking heads work to define its meaning, it naturally left many in the child health world wondering: What now for kids coverage, notably CHIP and Medicaid?? It’s hard to answer this, of course, without some distance from the noise and posturing about what the election means.…
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Time to Pay More Attention to Kids
Every year around this time, CCF releases a 50-state report on uninsured children. Since we started publishing the report, we’ve always had good news to share about the progress being made for uninsured children. This year, the news wasn’t quite so rosy. The national uninsured rate for children seems to have hit a plateau. The…
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Progress on Children’s Health Coverage is Slowing
The historic progress our nation has made in reducing the rate of uninsured children appears to be slowing down. While we’ve achieved the historically low child uninsured rate of 7.1 percent, our research shows that we’re starting to see some stagnation. Whether this is an aberration or an indication of a more significant trend remains…
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What Do Elections Mean for Medicaid Prospects?
No one would say it was a good night for the prospects of Medicaid expansion. But I would argue the landscape didn’t really change all that much. One clear loss for the issue was Governor LePage’s victory in Maine –a state where he has repeatedly vetoed the expansion. And Arkansas results – especially in the…
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How Will Election Results Impact Florida’s Medicaid Expansion Prospects?
As I write this on Election Day, Florida’s gubernatorial race between incumbent Governor Scott and former Governor Crist appears to be one of the closest in the country. And Florida keeps popping up on lists of states for which the outcome of the Governor’s race will make a big difference. Maybe, but I have my…
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Analysis: 3 Million Would Gain Coverage if ALL States Expanded Medicaid
By Sean Miskell On the eve of a midterm election that has seen state policy makers reconsidering their opposition to Medicaid expansion, an analysis conducted by the New York Times finds that 3 million more would gain coverage if all states expanded Medicaid. This finding highlights the importance role that state policy makers can play…
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Campaign Season: Why Some Leaders are Changing their Position on Medicaid Expansion
As the midterm elections draw near, carefully sifting through the mountains of third-party attack advertising, talking point driven rhetoric and overwhelming horse race polling brings out a nugget of information regarding Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Surprisingly, in some states that have yet to accept the federal money to cover more uninsured people…
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New Online Resource Provides Answers to Common Health Insurance and Marketplace Questions
Over the past year, experts from Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms and Center for Children and Families have been providing support to Navigators and assisters under a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Our work includes back-office support to assisters in 6 states – Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Arizona, Arkansas and Michigan…
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Extending Iowa’s Waiver Request Would Set a Bad Precedent for Other States Considering Medicaid Expansion
By Sean Miskell As we near the end of the first year of expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, it is also time to revisit state proposals to alter their Medicaid programs through Section 1115 Medicaid waivers. Last week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Georgetown CCF, and 20 other national and state…
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No Tricks Here, CMS Treats States with Permanent Enhanced Funding for Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment Systems
There could hardly be a sweeter treat for state Medicaid agencies than to learn that CMS is proposing to the make permanent the enhanced federal funding match of 90 percent for Medicaid eligibility and enrollment systems and a 3-year extension on certain cost-allocation requirements. It was a big deal when CMS first proposed the 90/10…
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Raising the Curtain on Open Enrollment, Round Two
The second open enrollment period for the health insurance marketplaces, or OE2, is mere days away. As I wrote in this blog and the related Health Affairs story, OE2 will be part sequel and part new production. Taking a peek behind the curtain, what can the audience expect on open day, November 15th? Outreach and…
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Arkansas Proposes Unwelcome Changes to the Private Option
Last week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Georgetown CCF and 15 other national and state groups submitted comments to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services outlining concerns with proposed changes to the state’s Section 1115 Medicaid waiver which authorizes the state’s Medicaid expansion – known as the “private option.” We expressed…
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Rural Hospital Closures: Tracking Tool Shows Impact in States Reluctant to Expand Medicaid
At the University of North Carolina’s Rural Health Research Program, Director Mark Holmes and colleagues are tracking the increasing numbers of rural hospital closures across the United States with this dynamic map. As part of this work the Rural Health program has also looked at the impact on rural populations nationwide of state decisions not…
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Open Enrollment 2: Experts Answer Tough Questions and Offer Advice to Help Navigators and Consumer Assisters
This week, Georgetown University experts from the Center on Health Insurance Reforms and the Center for Children and Families released a report from their ongoing project to support Navigators and consumer assisters. The project, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides Navigators and other in-person assisters in six states – Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan,…
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Tracking Medicaid Enrollment and Spending
By Joe Touschner Each year, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured reports on the findings from its survey of budgets and enrollment among state Medicaid programs. (The budget survey is not to be confused with the Kaiser-Georgetown CCF survey of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility and enrollment policies coming in January). This year’s edition…