Research & Reports
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Program Design Snapshot: State Buy-in Programs for Children
Child buy-in programs allow families with incomes in excess of a state’s Medicaid/SCHIP eligibility levels to purchase insurance for their children through the public plan. This short brief reviews state child buy-in programs, and provides an overview of issues that states must consider when implementing a program. It shows that while enrollment in the programs…
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Building on a Solid Foundation: Medicaid’s Role in a Reformed Health Care System
By Martha Heberlein Health care reform is once again a front and center issue – at the White House and in the halls of Congress, in state capitols and corporate boardrooms, and around kitchen tables across America. Covering the uninsured, reigning in health care costs, and obtaining better quality and value for our health care…
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Weathering the Storm: States Move Forward on Child and Family Health Coverage Despite Tough Economic Climate
This report provides a first look at state activity after the passage of CHIPRA and the availability of increased Medicaid funding in the economic stimulus package. It finds that despite unprecedented fiscal challenges, all but a few states held steady on children’s health coverage, and twenty-three states took steps to move forward. This progress on…
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The Louisiana Experience: Successful Steps to Improve Retention in Medicaid and SCHIP
Over the past decade, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has taken a series of progressive and innovative steps to reduce the number of children who lose Medicaid or CHIP (known as LaCHIP) coverage at renewal for reasons not related to eligibility. In 2008, less than 1% of children enrolled in Louisiana’s LaCHIP program…
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Washington State: Coverage to All Children
Beginning in February 2009, Washington began enrolling children with family incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) in its new Apple Health for Kids program. The implementation of this expansion is only the most recent phase of a comprehensive effort to cover all children that began over 2 years ago when…
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Medicaid and Health Reform: How Will They Work Together?
By Jocelyn Guyer Child Welfare League of America — Presentation Document February 2009
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CHIP Reauthorization: New Opportunities for Moving Forward
By Cindy Mann Commonwealth Fund Leadership Forum on Early Childhood Development — Presentation Document February 2009
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Postcards from CCF – Washington
CHIPRA and the rescission of the CMS August 17 Directiveare already making a difference in the lives of children and families in Washington.Meet Sarah McIntyre, an 8-year-old girl living in Yakima, Washington who loves school, music and dance. On the surface, she’s just another happy-go-lucky 2nd grader. Look a little deeper and you’ll find an…
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The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009
On February 4, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA). The new law (Public Law No. 111-3) is designed to provide coverage to significant numbers of uninsured children and to improve the quality of care that all of America’s children receive. Most notably, it strengthens and…
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The Impact of Health Reform on Public Programs
Author: Cindy Mann National Health Policy Forum – Presentation Document February 2009
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State Child Buy-In Programs: A Snapshot
Author: Dawn Horner Families USA — Presentation Document January 2009
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Moving Forward in Uncertain Times
Author: Cindy Mann American Hospital Association — Presentation Document January 2009
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Program Design Snapshot: Paperless Income Verification
By Joe Touschner Medicaid and SCHIP collect information on families’ incomes in order to determine eligibility. Most states require applicants to present paper copies of pay stubs and other documents, such as records of child support payments, to verify their incomes. The short brief shows that states, however, have the opportunity to modernize their programs…
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Data Reporting to Assess Enrollment and Retention in Medicaid and SCHIP
Enrollment and retention data are essential tools to ensuring that all uninsured children eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP are enrolled. Reliable data reported on a routine basis help to pinpoint both administrative inefficiencies and opportunities to assure coverage of eligible children. This paper describes high level data points that help to identify bottlenecks and barriers,…
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Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver: A Bad Deal for the State
In August 2008, Rhode Island applied for federal permission to radically transform its Medicaid program. Rhode Island asked for a fixed amount of federal funds each year along with permission to bypass longstanding federal standards protecting Medicaid beneficiaries. However, the terms and conditions of the waiver fail to take into account the impact of the…
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Children in Health Care Reform: Where Things Stand
The country has made significant progress covering children. Health reform has the potential to build upon this success by opening new doorways so that all children have quality and affordable health insurance and providing coverage options to their parents and the other adults in their lives. This fact sheet provides basic information on the coverage…
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Fact Sheet on Senator Baucus’ Call to Action
This fact sheet provides a review of the key provisions of Senator Baucus’ white paper on health reform.
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Keeping the Promise to Children and Families in Tough Economic Times
Ten years of progress on children’s health care coverage is threatened by increasing unemployment, declining state revenues, and a growing affordability gap between family income and the cost of healthcare coverage. This report estimates that over the past year, 4.1 million people have lost their employer-based coverage, including 1.2 million children. It offers options to…
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West Virginia’s Medicaid Redesign
Author: Joan Alker West Virginia Interim Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability Testimony Document October 15, 2008
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Florida’s Experience with Medicaid Reform: What has been Learned in the First Two Years?
Two years after the launch of Florida’s Medicaid reform pilot it appears that beneficiaries’ access to heath care has worsened and financial benefits for the State of Florida remain unknown. Beneficiaries and providers think the Medicaid program has become more complex with more paperwork as a result of reform, and there are signs that access…