Research & Reports
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Ensuring Continuity of Medicaid Coverage for Former Foster Youth
Youth transitioning out of foster care are at both a challenging and pivotal time of their lives. Having health coverage through Medicaid provides security and stability as they make the steep climb to adulthood, often on their own. The authors of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took into account the needs of former foster youth and the fact…
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An Explanation of Final Medicaid Managed Care and Access Rules
Executive Summary While the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has overseen the steady growth in Medicaid coverage over recent years, CMS has faced the additional challenges of ensuring that coverage truly leads to meaningful access to care and that there is strong oversight. CMS recently finalized two key regulations: “Ensuring Access to Medicaid…
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A Look at Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, and Renewal Policies During the Unwinding of Continuous Enrollment and Beyond
Executive Summary In early 2023, states began final preparations for the end of the pandemic-related Medicaid continuous enrollment provision following passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2023, which lifted the requirement effective March 31, 2023. During the three-year pause on Medicaid disenrollments, Medicaid and CHIP enrollment grew by 32% from 71.3 million to…
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State Use of Section 1115 Demonstrations to Support the Health-Related Social Needs of Pregnant and Postpartum Women, Infants, and Young Children
By: Allexa Gardner, Tanesha Mondestin, Nancy Kaneb, and Juliana St Goar Download the PDF Executive Summary In an effort to better address the maternal and infant health crisis, states are increasingly seeking to use Medicaid to cover health-related social needs (HRSN) services and supports for pregnant and postpartum individuals and their children, particularly through Medicaid…
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Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024: Medicaid and CHIP Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Provisions Explained
Download the Full Report Here On March 9, 2024, President Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-42). The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (CAA 2024) includes a number of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provisions related to mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) care and coverage including provisions extending…
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State Medicaid and CHIP Outreach Resources and Enrollment Assistance Snapshot
Introduction At the end of March 2023, states began the process of redetermining eligibility for more than 90 million Medicaid enrollees after a three-year pause on disenrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic. By December 2023, Medicaid net enrollment had declined by more than 8 million people, including over 4 million children. While a drop in enrollment…
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Child Medicaid Disenrollment Data Shows Wide Variation in State Performance as Continuous Coverage Pandemic Protections Lifted
Download the Full Report (PDF) Background During the COVID-19 public health emergency, states received increased federal Medicaid matching rates in exchange for a commitment to maintain continuous coverage for those enrolled in Medicaid. With the public health emergency winding down, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2023, Congress ended the continuous coverage requirement…
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Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment Rule Explainer
Download the Full Explainer (PDF) On April 2, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published the second part of a two-part final rule that simplifies the eligibility and enrollment processes for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Basic Health Program (BHP).1 The rule eliminates certain access barriers for children enrolled…
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A Profile of Mississippi’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers (Updated March 2024)
Download Full Report (PDF) Introduction Mississippi remains one of only ten states in the nation that have not yet accepted enhanced federal Medicaid funding to cover low-income adults with incomes up to $20,783 per year1. In addition to a permanent enhanced federal match of 90% that is available to states to cover this group, the…
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State Medicaid Opportunities to Support Mental Health of Mothers and Babies During the 12-Month Postpartum Period
Download Full Report (PDF) By: Elisabeth Burak, Anne Dwyer, Tanesha Mondestin, and Kay Johnson Most states have moved to adopt a new state option to extend Medicaid coverage to all enrolled pregnant people from 60 days to 12 months following a pregnancy. As the predominant payor of U.S. births and health care to postpartum people…
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Medicaid’s Pandemic-Era Continuous Coverage Protections Helped Reduce Number of Uninsured Children
Download Report PDF Introduction Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) for 2022 finds that the number of uninsured children continued to decline over the pandemic period – most likely as a consequence of the continuous coverage protection in Medicaid put in place by one of the first COVID-19 rescue packages, the…
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Medicaid Managed Care, Maternal Mortality Review Committees, and Maternal Health: A 12-State Scan
Download the Full Report Introduction The United States is in the midst of an ongoing maternal mortality crisis and Medicaid, the health insurer for low-income Americans, has an important role to play in addressing it. Medicaid is the nation’s single largest maternity care insurer, paying for more than 40% of all births on average across all states,…
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State Medicaid and CHIP Snapshots, 2023
The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) created factsheets underscoring the importance of Medicaid in providing coverage for children in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Sources available here. Previous snapshots can be found here (2019), here (2018) and here (2017). Check out more interactive…
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Medicaid Support for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: Lessons from Five States
By: Kay Johnson and Elisabeth Burak Five states’ journeys to strengthen Medicaid support for infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) –California, Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina, and Washington — offer lessons for other states seeking to more effectively prevent, identify, and address mental health conditions among young children in Medicaid. Lessons speak to the importance of: 1. Leadership…
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New Brief: Where Things Stand on the Medicaid and CHIP Provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
Medicaid (alongside the Children’s Health Insurance Program) covers more than half of all children in the U.S. and serves as the single largest payer of behavioral health services. Yet, timely access to mental health services remains elusive for many children and families. In June 2022, President Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act…
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Medicaid’s Coverage Role in Small Towns and Rural Areas
Medicaid’s vital role as an insurer for low-income families, people with disabilities and chronic health conditions, and individuals in need of long-term services and supports in the nation’s health care system has continued to grow over the past decade. According to federal administrative enrollment data, one-quarter of all residents of the United States and more…
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An Analysis of Georgia’s Section 1115 Medicaid Pathways to Coverage Program
Download Full Report In July 2023, Georgia will begin enrollment into its new Medicaid Pathways to Coverage (“Pathways”) program, with coverage expected to begin in September 2023. The program would offer coverage to a subset of low-income adults who meet a work reporting requirement and, depending on their income, pay a monthly premium. Georgia will…
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Alabama’s Women Need Medicaid Expansion: One in Six Women Aged 18-44 Lack Health Coverage and Face Many Barriers to Good Health
Report by: Maggie Clark, Georgetown University CCF, & Debbie Smith, Alabama Arise Download Full Report Introduction Alabama mothers face many barriers to good health. The state faces high maternal and infant mortality rates, high rates of uninsurance among women of childbearing age, and worsening access to maternity care providers. These problems are compounded by Alabama’s…
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Medicaid Policies to Help Young Children Access Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Services: Results from a 50-State Survey
By: Sheila Smith, Maribel R. Granja, Elisabeth Wright Burak, Kay Johnson, and Daniel Ferguson; Representing the National Center for Children in Poverty, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, and Johnson Policy Consulting Full report available here. INTRODUCTION Young children covered by Medicaid are growing up in low-income households and are more likely to experience…
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State Opportunities to Leverage Medicaid and CHIP Coverage to Improve Maternal Health and Eliminate Racial Inequities
Introduction Medicaid and CHIP provide coverage for millions of pregnant people to access essential prenatal, birth-related, and postpartum care each year.[1] Policymakers are taking a fresh look at Medicaid and CHIP options to support better maternal health outcomes in response to the nation’s worsening maternal mortality crisis, the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v.…
