Research & Reports
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Eligibility and Enrollment Systems: An Advocate’s IT Toolkit
Efforts to improve public coverage programs have long been stymied by the prevalence of outdated IT systems that are the source of numerous consumer issues from confusing and conflicting notices to lost eligibility records to inadequate data to measure program performance. Meanwhile the state of technology and web-based services has advanced significantly, leaving many Medicaid…
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Speaking of Medicaid …
By Joe Touschner Say Ahhh! readers talk about Medicaid and CHIP all the time and it’s long been a key topic during state budget hearings. But lately, Medicaid seems to be under discussion everywhere, including the last presidential debate. And talk of Medicaid is only going to intensify in the coming months as we enter…
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Uninsured Children 2009-2011: Charting the Nation’s Progress
Georgetown University Center for Children and Families researchers analyzed health insurance data from the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey to get a closer look at children’s coverage trends. The authors found that the nation continues to make steady progress covering children, despite no reduction in the number of children living in poverty. A strong commitment to…
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Summaries of Insurance Benefits and Coverage will Help Consumers Comparison Shop
By Sabrina Corlette, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms As of September 23, the “wild west” of shopping for health insurance coverage has been at least partially tamed, thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Consumers can now get standardized, simplified summaries of benefits and coverage (SBC) that will help them understand what’s covered by an…
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Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers: Duties and Competencies
Exchanges are required to set up navigator programs and federal regulations specify a minimum set of duties and competencies required of navigators. However, states have to flexibility to expand the role of navigators to maximize the effectiveness and reach of their programs. By identifying and focusing on the needs of consumers upfront, Exchanges are better…
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Pediatric Dental Benefits Under the ACA: Issues for State Advocates to Consider
By Joe Touschner The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and the Children’s Dental Health Project collaborated to produce this issue brief. It presents an overview of some of the key changes the Affordable Care Act makes to children’s dental benefits and the choices states face in defining pediatric dental benefits. It concludes with recommendations for those who wish to support…
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Study Finds Medicaid Beneficiaries’ Use of Hospital Emergency Departments Comparable to Privately Insured Patients
By Tara Mancini Medicaid seems to be a lightening rod for inaccurate assumptions such as it’s too expensive for states (it’s a good deal for states), overall cost (more cost-effective than private insurance) and beneficiaries using hospital Emergency Departments for routine care. Until recently, there had not been much research to refute the perception of…
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Child Health Advocates’ Guide to Essential Health Benefits
By Joe Touschner This guide highlights considerations for the selection of the essential health benefits with a focus on services for children. The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that each state will select an essential health benefits package based on an existing employer-based health plan. The guide outlines the process for choosing and supplementing…
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Consumer Assistance in the Digital Age
This brief provides recommendations on how states can connect consumers with health coverage programs like Medicaid and health insurance exchanges. It also explores how ways to connect consumers with health coverage options will evolve as new technological tools are deployed to facilitate the enrollment process. Where states’ use of new technology tools is limited, the authors…
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Countdown to 2014: Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers
Exchanges are required to establish a navigator program that provides grants to community or consumer-focused nonprofits and other organizations to conduct outreach and help consumers and small employers connect to health coverage. States have broad flexibility in designing their programs as long as minimum federal guidelines are met. While similar to existing models of consumer assistance in Medicaid and Medicare, navigator…
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Expanding Coverage for Parents Helps Children: Children’s Groups Have a Key Role in Urging States to Move Forward and Expand Medicaid
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded Medicaid coverage to include parents and low-income adults with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty line. The Supreme Court’s decision means states can now decide whether or not to implement this expansion. Covering low-income parents is important for children: covering parents means that more eligible children will…
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Comments on CCIIO’s Verification of Access to Employer-‐Sponsored Coverage Bulletin
CCF Comments on CCIIO’s Verification of Access to Employer-‐Sponsored Coverage Bulletin
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Child Welfare and the Affordable Care Act: Key Provisions for Children and Youth in the Foster Care System
The Affordable Care Act will have important implications for many of the nation’s children, but, it may prove particularly significant for the over 400,000 children and youth who are part of the foster care system. This issue brief reviews ACA provisions that hold promise of improving the health and well-being of these children, who often…
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Utah’s Exchange Shifts Cost to Families
Editor’s Note: Just over a year ago, CCF and our colleagues at Georgetown’s Center for Health Insurance Reforms released a paper examining the health insurance exchanges operating in Utah and Massachusetts. We concluded that they should not be viewed as ideological “bookends” but rather as entities with different goals that had taken different steps to attract…
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Medicaid Coverage for Parents under the Affordable Care Act – State Fact Sheets
This issue brief presents national estimates of the number and characteristics of uninsured parents who would be eligible for Medicaid in 2014 according to whether they have child who is currently enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP coverage or an uninsured child who is eligible for Medicaid/CHIP but not enrolled. State-specific data are also provided on the ten…
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Medicaid Coverage for Parents under the Affordable Care Act
This issue brief presents national estimates of the number and characteristics of uninsured parents who would be eligible for Medicaid in 2014 according to whether they have child who is currently enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP coverage or an uninsured child who is eligible for Medicaid/CHIP but not enrolled. State-specific data are also provided on the ten…
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A Focus on Children and Youth in the Nuts and Bolts of an Exchange
By Mike Odeh, Children Now School might be out for summer – but not for California’s Health Benefit Exchange board! The board has scheduled at least two full meetings in June, and is absorbing a small encyclopedia’s worth of reports. These extensive analyses touch on some of the many important “nuts and bolts” decisions that…
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New Study Finds Massachusetts Health Reform is Good for Kids
By Tara Mancini Massachusetts’ 2006 health reform law is frequently a topic of research and debate. However, few studies have specifically focused on how children have fared as a result of the reform. That is until this recent study published in the American Economic Review that focuses solely on children under 18 and the impact that…
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IRS Releases Final Premium Tax Credit Rule
By Martha Heberlein The final premium tax credit rule was published in the Federal Register on May 23rd. The rule, which describes eligibility for the health insurance premium tax credits, pretty much finalized what was proposed back in August. (For a summary on the math behind the calculations, check out HealthReformGPS.) However, there are a few interesting things…
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Youth in Foster Care Can Benefit Greatly from ACA, but Need Advocates to Act Now to Make Sure They Do
By Ginny Puddefoot, The Children’s Partnership Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), youth who are in foster care on their 18th birthday will soon have access to extended health insurance coverage through Medicaid until reaching the age of 26. This represents a huge benefit to these young people–and a major challenge for all…