Data

New MACPAC Report Released

By Martha Heberlein What an exciting week for data lovers! First the CBO Baseline  was released and yesterday MACPAC put out their March report. As usual, it’s chock full of goodies! This edition of the report has 4 chapters (not to mention the always appreciated MACStats!). The first chapter focuses on the more than 9 […]

What’s the Score? CBO’s Updated Baseline Released

By Martha Heberlein I don’t know what you did yesterday, but I spent the day eagerly awaiting CBO’s annual March baseline. As the “official scorekeepers” in Washington, their projections of spending and enrollment in Medicaid, CHIP, and coverage under the exchanges carry a lot of weight. Besides, who wouldn’t love the neat little tables they produce […]

Keeping Care Affordable: CMS Stands up for California Kids

By Michael Odeh, Children Now Earlier this month the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made an important ruling that truly embraces the “AFFORDABLE” in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Health care services and economics research over the past four decades has clearly shown that unaffordable cost-sharing in health care can be a […]

Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs Provides Important Data

By Tara Mancini Say Ahhh! readers should know about an important new data source on Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN); the 2009/10 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs. This is the third survey in this series, which is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) and conducted by […]

Hard Work Pays Off for “Waiver Watchers”

By Wesley Prater A number of states looking to save money in their Medicaid programs are asking the federal government for Section 1115 Research and Demonstration waivers  — in some cases asking for federal protection that preserve their coverage for children and families to be loosened.  However, recently three states – New Jersey, Texas, and […]

Utah’s Waiver Proposal–Join Us in Speaking Up for Kids

By Joe Touschner Like many states, Utah has been working to redesign its Medicaid program in an effort to contain costs–the state submitted a Section 1115 demonstration waiver application to CMS earlier this month. As my colleague Joan Alker has blogged about in the past, waivers are often adopted with little public transparency even though […]