Arizona
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Arizona Children Most at Risk if Congress Fails to Renew CHIP
As the deadline to extend Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding looms, states are in the difficult position of deciding what to do if new funds don’t materialize. As we’ve written before, Arizona is squarely in the crosshairs as the state whose children are most immediately at risk if CHIP funding is not renewed during…
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Uninsured Rates for American Indian and Alaska Native Children are Coming Down But Are Still Too High: Medicaid Cuts Put These Kids at Risk
Continuing our deeper dive into recent coverage gains among at-risk populations thanks largely to Medicaid (like our recent report on Medicaid’s disproportionate role for small towns and rural areas), today we are releasing a new paper “Coverage Trends for American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Families.” The big takeaway: Uninsured rates for AI/AN children…
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Coverage Trends for American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Families
Uninsured rates for children in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families have dropped quickly in the past eight years, but they still remain high and will likely rise if substantial cuts are made to the Medicaid program, according to the report, Coverage Trends for American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Families. The report found: 54 percent of…
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Top 10 Rural Counties With Largest Share of Kids and Adults Relying on Medicaid to Meet Health Needs
Using data from our Rural Health Policy Project, we just took a look at the counties across the country that have the highest percent of children and adults relying on Medicaid for their health care. As readers of SayAhhh! know, our study found that children living in small towns and rural areas are significantly more…
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INTERACTIVE MAPS: Children Covered by Medicaid and CHIP by county, state or congressional district.
These maps show how many children are covered by Medicaid in each county and congressional district. Visit these links to view the maps, and to download handouts on your state’s coverage data: Percent of Children Covered by Medicaid/CHIP (congressional district) Percent of Children Covered by Medicaid/CHIP (county) Visit CCF’s State Resource Center for state-level data on health…
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What Does House ACA Repeal Proposal Mean for Children and Families?
As the House of Representatives moves with rapid speed to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the public can finally get a glimpse of their plan – though the public still needs a lot more information about the proposal and the “intended” and “unintended” consequences it would have for children and families. The…
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Arizona Medicaid Waiver Amendment Does Not Include Analysis of Impact on Budget and Individuals
Arizona will shortly be submitting an amendment to its existing Section 1115 waiver that includes some very major and unprecedented changes to its Medicaid expansion such as the imposition of a work requirement (which has to be verified on a monthly basis!), and a five-year life- time limit on Medicaid benefits. The state also seeks…
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Arizona is Trying to Impose a Lifetime Cap on Medicaid Coverage
By Jesse Cross-Call, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Arizona will soon send a proposal to the federal government to place a five-year lifetime limit on Medicaid coverage for adults under 65 who don’t have a disability. The government should reject the proposed time limit, which would lead to coverage losses and increase hardship among older, low-income…
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Arizona’s Coverage for Children and Families is Especially Threatened by ACA Repeal with No Replace
Congressional leaders have been clear that a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is first up on their agenda in January. I blogged about this the other day, and as I was reflecting on these issues, I realized that children and families in Arizona are in particularly hot water if the ACA is repealed.…
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Gains in Children’s Health Coverage at Risk if Bump in Funding Eliminated
Those of you at our annual conference in July are already familiar with the bump dance craze that took the world by storm in the summer of 1975. But ICYMI, there’s a new bump that’s all the rage these days – the increase in federal funding for CHIP. Starting in fiscal year 2016, states received…
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Arizona and CMS Reach Agreement on Medicaid Waiver
Today the federal government and the state of Arizona reached agreement on a five-year extension of the state’s Section 1115 Medicaid waiver. The terms and conditions of the agreement touch on a range of areas including the state’s managed care delivery system, some issues affecting long term care services, a number of financing issues and…
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Advocates in Arizona and Florida Win Bulldog of Year Awards for Opening Doors to Coverage for Kids
Connecting with children’s advocates and health policy experts from across the country is the highlight of our annual conference for me. I am always inspired by the “doggedness” of our state partners to make children’s lives better. A few years ago, we started a tradition of opening the conference by presenting the “Bulldog of the…
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CMS Approves Arizona Plan to Re-Open CHIP (KidsCare)
Today, Arizona “officially” joined the rest of the country as CMS approved its plan to re-open its CHIP plan. As Say Ahhh! readers know, new enrollment in Arizona’s CHIP plan (KidsCare) was frozen for several years. Now children living in all 50 states and DC will have the opportunity to sign up for CHIP coverage.…
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Arizona Sign-Ups For KidsCare Health Insurance Begin July 26
Arizona Daily Star By: Stephanie Innes Once Arizona finally, after 6 years, re-activates the KidsCare, the number of approximately 160,000 uninsured children will drop starting on September 1st. To this day, according to a study done by the Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, Arizona is the only state that does not have an…
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How Did Arizona Reach a Bipartisan Agreement to Re-open KidsCare?
By Joe Fu, Children’s Action Alliance of Arizona After six years without KidsCare, Arizona will no longer be the only state in the country without a functioning Children’s Health Insurance (CHIP) program. With bipartisan support, Arizona’s Legislature pushed through a measure to reinstate KidsCare in the final moments of the session. On May 6, 2016, Arizona’s…
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CHIP Bump Brings About Coverage Gains for Kids in Florida and Utah
Just a few hours ago, the Florida legislature passed its final bills of the session and included an extension of Medicaid and CHIP coverage to lawfully residing immigrant children who are currently excluded for five years. Known to many as the “ICHIA option”, this was a huge victory for kids in Florida (and their advocates…
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CCF Research Helps Inform Debate over Reinstating Arizona KidsCare
Last week, I was in Phoenix, Arizona to testify at a hearing in the House of Representatives Health Committee on KidsCare. As Say Ahhh! readers know, the changes to KidsCare in the last several years created a unique research opportunity because Arizona is the only state without a functioning Children’s Health Insurance Program. My colleagues…
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Arizona Kids are Falling Through the Cracks Without Active KidsCare Program
by Joe Fu, Children’s Action Alliance For the fifth year in a row, Arizona had the third highest child uninsured rate in the nation. In 2014, 10% of Arizona’s children were uninsured compared to about 6% nationally, according to a new report we released this week with Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. This…
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Children’s Health Coverage in Arizona: How Are Children Doing Without KidsCare?
Arizona, with its large number of uninsured residents, was primed to make major progress in 2014 with the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. With the adoption of the Medicaid expansion, the state did see coverage improvements that mirrored national trends. Yet the state’s decision to dismantle KidsCare meant some Arizona children likely fell…
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Arkansas and Arizona Drive in Different Directions on Medicaid Transportation Benefit
By Sean Miskell Most observers expect that remaining states that have not yet expanded Medicaid are likely to seek changes to the program via waivers as they move forward on expansion. A few states that have already expanded Medicaid are also seeking to make changes through waivers. But these changes are not always for the…
