Research & Reports
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HHS Signals Approach on Actuarial Value, Cost Sharing
By Joe Touschner In a bulletin released late last week, HHS provided some indication of how it will use the key concept of actuarial value in rating health plans under the Affordable Care Act. The same bulletin shared some clues on the cost-sharing reductions that some moderate income families will receive when they enroll in exchange…
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Public Programs that Work – Good News on Children’s Coverage
By Eugene Lewit, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Late last year, while official Washington and its pundits were busy deconstructing the failure of the “Super Committee” and the rest of us were planning our holiday celebrations, the National Center for Health Statistics quietly released its 2011 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data. Among other…
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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…
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A State-by-State Look at Gains in Preventive Care Under the ACA
Since we spend a lot of time looking ahead to 2014 and the promise of significant gains in coverage, it’s always encouraging to see some immediate benefits of the Affordable Care Act. This time: preventive care for families. Last week, amidst the excitement over new Essential Health Benefit information and the Administration’s budget, some good…
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Good News for Utah’s Children: CMS Upholds Key Affordability and Benefit Protections
By Lincoln Nehring, Voices for Utah Children In 2011 Utah passed SB 180, Medicaid Reform. As with many Medicaid reform efforts happening across the country, SB 180’s broad theme was good: control costs through improved care management and quality. However, also like many Medicaid reform efforts happening around the country, Utah’s “improved quality” theme came…
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Medicaid Growth Slows; Medicaid Directors’ Innovative Efforts Expand
By Tara Mancini Overall, the economic conditions surrounding state Medicaid budgets are continuing to improve, even as states make their way through the first full budget year after the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act enhanced FMAP funding expired. In January 2012, unemployment hit a three year low of 8.3 percent, down from 9.4 percent a…
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State Tax Revenue Continues to Rise
By Martha Heberlein According to a new report from the Rockefeller Institute of Government, total state tax revenues grew for the 7th straight quarter. Comparing the 3rd quarters of 2011 and 2010, total tax revenues increased by about 6%. Nearly every state (save Alabama, California, and Delaware) saw increases in total tax revenue, with 12…
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HHS Issues New Rules Requiring Insurers to use Plain Language to Help Consumers Compare Insurance Plans
Have you ever had to shop for insurance on your own and faced a bewildering array of options? With insurance companies peppering their plan descriptions with technical language and legalese, so you’re not quite sure what’s really covered? Or even worse, have you ever thought you were buying a good policy only to find out…
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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…
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CHIPRA at Work Three Years Later: Shaping State Actions and Connecting Children to Coverage
The enactment of CHIPRA three years ago gave states additional tools and resources to maintain and improve children’s access to health care. In recent years, the number of uninsured children has decreased by one million, even as child poverty has jumped to alarmingly high levels and more parents and adults have joined the ranks of…
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National Groups Express Concerns About Wisconsin’s Waiver
By Wesley Prater Many thanks to the organizations that joined us in submitting a letter to federal officials in opposition of Wisconsin’s request to waive maintenance of effort provisions. These provisions are so valuable to families because they preserve stability in states’ Medicaid and CHIP programs. Groups such as the AARP, American Heart Association, Center…
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Giants v. Patriots on Covering Kids – Who are you Rootin’ For?
Undoubtedly you’ve heard about Super Bowl XLVI , but have you heard of CHIP III which is also taking the field this weekend? CHIP is short for the Children’s Health Insurance Program which was reauthorized three years ago this weekend. To mark the occasion, we’re hosting a Super Blog-Off between Patriots fans and Giants fans. But…
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The Patriots have Vince Wilfork. Who is defending your child’s health?
By Dayanne Leal and the team at Health Care For All Massachusetts On Sunday, the Patriots are going to win the Super Bowl. Really, I don’t know why the Giants would even bother to show up. And since a 4th banner in Gillette Stadium is inevitable, it’s worth asking to what can we credit this success? Some…
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New York is Taking GIANT Steps to Cover Kids
By the Community Service Society of New York, Children’s Defense Fund – New York, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy and Health Care for All New York As the New York Giants head to the Super Bowl this year, another giant comes to mind, the title character from Roald Dahl’s famous book, The Big Friendly Giant (BFG). Just…
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Is Your State Reviewing Potential EHB Benchmarks?
By Joe Touschner HHS’s essential health benefits bulletin is less than two months old–in fact, the comment period just closed this week, click here for our comment letter–but some states are already planning for what it could mean for their residents. The Bulletin indicates that states will be able to choose the core of their…
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The Pace of Progress in the States
By Martha Heberlein As legislative sessions are kicking off, it will be interesting to see which states take steps towards implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this year. A new report from the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that those states that have been moving most slowly on reform are also the…
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Something to Celebrate
By Gretchen Hammer, Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved This month, All Kids Covered released Crossing the Finish Line: Achieving Meaningful Health Care Coverage and Access for All Children in Colorado. The report provides an update on the current status of meaningful health care coverage and access for children in Colorado, and describes the significant…
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HHS Shares Info on Small Group Plans
By Joe Touschner It’s a busy month on the essential health benefits front! As we’ve noted, one option for states under the proposed approach for state-defined EHB packages is to use one of the state’s three largest small group plans as a benchmark. It’s been difficult to evaluate this proposal because we didn’t know which…
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CCF Shares Comments on the Essential Health Benefits Bulletin
By Joe Touschner We have been offering our insights on essential health benefits through a series of blog posts. This post is to alert you that Georgetown CCF has drafted a letter in response to the Bulletin issued by HHS in December. We raise a number of concerns with the Bulletin’s approach to essential health…
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Performing Under Pressure: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies in Medicaid and CHIP, 2011-2012
Amid ongoing state budget pressures, a requirement in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that states maintain eligibility in Medicaid and CHIP was central in preserving coverage during 2011. In addition, more than half of states (29) made improvements in their programs. Most of these improvements involved greater use of technology to boost program efficiency and…