Media Coverage
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At Hug Me Tight, no more hugs for now: The challenges of child care in the age of COVID-19
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette By: Kate Giammarise For the first time in months, young children toddled through the door at Hug Me Tight Childlife Center on Monday. They faced a few changes. Two-year-old Titan Yates arrived around 8:30 a.m. His mother Ty logged him into the center’s computer system by using her phone to scan a QR…
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Medicaid Rolls Surge, Adding to Budget Woes
Pew Trusts By: Michael Ollove Many of the tens of millions of Americans who have lost their health insurance along with their jobs are enrolling in Medicaid — and with state budgets decimated by the pandemic, state officials worry they won’t have the money to pay for their health care…. Georgetown University’s Center for Children…
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State Officials Weighing Emergency Medicaid Services for Undocumented Immigrants
WVTF By: Michael Pope Undocumented immigrants are being hit hard by the COVID-19 health crisis, and access to health care is a major stumbling block for many. But, Virginia could take action to increase availability of testing and treatment. A handful of states have made emergency Medicaid services available for undocumented immigrants to receive testing…
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MACPAC looks to improve care integration for dual-eligibles
Modern Healthcare By: Michael Brady Key policy changes could significantly improve the integration of care for people that are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission said Monday in its annual report to Congress. MACPAC said CMS should loosen enrollment restrictions for so-called “dual-eligibles” by creating an exception…
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HHS’ new $35 billion in grants target Medicaid, safety net, hot spot providers
Modern Healthcare By: Rachel Cohrs HHS on Tuesday announced new grant distributions to Medicaid providers, safety net hospitals, and hospitals in COVID-19 hot spots. The agency in recent days faced pressure from a bipartisan group of lawmakers to send more of Congress’ $175 billion provider relief fund to Medicaid-dependent providers. HHS said that $15 billion…
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‘Why Do We Always Get Hit First?’ Proposed Budget Cuts Target Vulnerable Californians
LAist By: Samantha Young Shirley Madden, 83, relies on a caregiver and her two grown daughters to remain living at home — and not in a nursing home. Her daughters, 55-year-old Carrie and 60-year-old Kristy Madden, both use wheelchairs and need a second caregiver to help them navigate their own daily lives… States that drop…
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Iowa Families That Lose Health Insurance During Crisis Have Options
Public News Service Losing employer-provided health insurance is one of the side effects of the pandemic-driven economic crisis. That poses a big concern for Iowa families and their children, bit many do have options. It’s estimated that as many as 43 million Americans could lose their health insurance as a result of the pandemic… While…
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Maternal health improved by Medicaid coverage, study says
Modern Healthcare By: Steven Johnson Expanded access to Medicaid was associated with 1.6 fewer maternal deaths per 100,000 women compared with states that didn’t expand the program, according to a new study. The infant death rate also fell more dramatically in Medicaid expansion states—by more than 50% from 2010 to 2016. Those findings were in…
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Latest Coverage Proposals In Congress
Health Affairs By: Katie Keith Congressional Democrats have released several recent proposals related to health insurance coverage and the COVID-19 crisis… The Heroes Act would further raise the temporary FMAP increase to 14 percentage points from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. If the emergency extends beyond June 30, 2021, the FMAP adjustment would…
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For many Americans, losing a job means scrambling for health insurance
CBS News By: Walecia Konrad When Tim Seib, a theater director who lives in Manhattan, lost not one but two jobs in March due to the shutdowns caused by the coronavirus, he found himself embarking on a different full-time pursuit: hunting for affordable health insurance…”A lot of these folks who’ve never experienced job losses before…
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How Partisan Gerrymandering Hurts Kids
American Progress By: Alex Tausanovitch, et. al Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing district lines to unfairly favor particular politicians or political parties in elections. It is a political dirty trick—and an extremely harmful one—that turns democracy upside down, letting politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their politicians….However, eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP…
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Congress must address the urgent Latino priorities left out of the CARES Act
Unidos US On behalf of UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza), I thank you for coming together to pass the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act …The pandemic has reinforced the importance of quality, affordable, and accessible health coverage and care in order to live a healthy life in general,…
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Here’s how much for-profit hospitals have received in bailout funding so far
Healthcare Dive By: Samantha Liss The nation’s largest for-profit hospital chains have received a total of about $2.2 billion in federal grants so far, which is intended to provide financial relief to hospitals and providers amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus and the havoc it has wreaked on their operations… “Nothing has been targeted…
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As record numbers of Pennsylvanians struggle, more ask for help
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette By: Kate Giammarise With many businesses still partially or completely closed and unemployment climbing, some Pennsylvanians are turning to public programs to make ends meet — though far fewer than might be expected given double-digit jobless numbers and long lines at free food distribution sites… A dozen states have posted April enrollment data…
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Deadlines for laid-off workers to get health care coverage coming next week
CBS News The first deadlines to qualify for fallback coverage under the Affordable Care Act are looming for many laid-off workers who lost their health insurance in the coronavirus shutdown… The federal-state Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid cover kids in families with incomes well above the poverty level. “Medicaid is open year round if…
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Child vaccinations down across the country amid coronavirus fears
ABC News By: John Santucci, Katherine Faulders, Olivia Rubin, Jay Bhatt, and Allison Pecorin As many as 20 states across the country are reporting a rapid decrease in the number of children receiving their routine vaccinations over the past few months, according to a nationwide survey conducted by ABC News. … Joan Alker, the executive…
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Children’s hospitals ask feds for more money amid ‘catastrophic loss’ due to coronavirus
ABC News By: Olivia Rubin The leaders of over 75 children’s hospitals across the country on Monday asked the federal government for more funding to help sustain their operations and offset the “catastrophic loss” they said they have faced during the coronavirus pandemic. … Generally speaking, Joan Alker, the Executive Director of the Center for Children…
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Medicaid Clinics And Doctors Have Been Last In Line For COVID-19 Relief Funding
NPR By: Julie Rovner Casa de Salud, a nonprofit clinic in Albuquerque, N.M., provides primary medical care, opioid addiction services and non-Western therapies, including acupuncture and reiki, to a largely low-income population. And as with so many other health care institutions that serve as a safety net, this clinic’s revenue — and its future —…
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Governors eye Medicaid cuts to ease COVID-19 budget pain
The Hill By: Jessie Hellmann Governors facing huge budget shortfalls are eyeing cuts to Medicaid, even as millions of unemployed Americans flock to the health insurance program after losing their employer-based coverage.States that are buckling under declining revenues and increased Medicaid enrollment due to COVID-19 say they may have no choice but to cut the…
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States cut Medicaid as millions of jobless workers look to safety net
Politico By: Rachel Roubein States facing sudden drops in tax revenue amid the pandemic are announcing deep cuts to their Medicaid programs just as millions of newly jobless Americans are surging onto the rolls. And state officials are worried that they’ll have to slash benefits for patients and payments to health providers in the safety net…