Kentucky
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Weighing in on the Kentucky Medicaid Waiver Request
Last week, we submitted comments in partnership with twelve other national organizations on Kentucky’s proposed section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver, which would make significant changes to Kentucky’s currently successful Medicaid expansion program. Our comments on the proposed waiver, known as Kentucky HEALTH, centered on concerns in areas of the demonstration project that would add red-tape…
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Kentucky Submits Proposed Medicaid Waiver
A couple months ago, Kentucky released the first version of its proposed Medicaid waiver for public comment and we pointed out several major problems with the proposal. Basically, the proposal contained elements like very high premiums and very high copayments, lockout periods where people would be denied health coverage and work (or involuntary “volunteer”) requirements:…
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Incentivizing Healthy Behaviors: Kentucky is Latest State to Pursue Despite Evidence it Doesn’t Work
Some ideas just keep popping up despite the near certainty that they won’t work. The recent Medicaid waiver proposal from Governor Bevin of Kentucky emphasizes the use of a rewards account where beneficiaries get points by engaging in healthy behaviors or community engagement activities to help pay for vision and dental care. This idea has…
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Medicaid Expansion: Driving Innovation in Behavioral Health Integration
By Jack Hoadley and Adam Searing Safety-net providers in states that have accepted the federal funding available for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are experiencing a positive ripple effect, where increased insurance coverage rates among patients and thus greater financial security for safety-net institutions are translating into better care. We found that…
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Kentucky’s Proposed Waiver Could Undermine its Successful Medicaid Expansion
By Sean Miskell and Adam Searing Kentucky has released a new Medicaid waiver request for state public comment today. This proposal would allow the state to make significant changes to its existing Medicaid program, affecting not only those newly eligible beneficiaries currently receiving health care through Kentucky’s existing Medicaid expansion, but also others served by…
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Beyond the Reduction in Uncompensated Care: Medicaid Expansion Is Having a Positive Impact on Safety Net Hospitals and Clinics
More than two years after the onset of expanded Medicaid coverage, significant differences are emerging between states that opted to expand Medicaid and those that did not. This report contains the findings of telephone interviews with eleven leaders of hospital systems and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in seven states. Three of the states where we conducted interviews…
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New Health Insurance Data Shows More Kentucky Kids are Covered
By Terry Brooks, Kentucky Youth Advocates New health insurance data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that health insurance coverage rates for both children and adults increased in Kentucky from 2013 to 2014. The one-year estimates from the American Community Survey revealed that 95.7 percent of Kentucky children under 18 had health insurance in…
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Children’s Health Coverage on the Eve of the Affordable Care Act
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. On the eve of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act coverage expansions, the authors found important lessons from the success the U.S. has had in covering children. The number of uninsured…
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Governor Supports Medicaid Expansion – State Will Come Out Ahead on Health and Finances
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced on Thursday that he would accept federal funding to offer Medicaid more uninsured Kentuckians. The expansion has the potential to almost halve the number of uninsured people in the state. Governor Beshear cited research that found accepting the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid option would create 17,000 new jobs and add…
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Getting Into Gear for 2014: Findings from a 50-State Survey of Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies in Medicaid and CHIP, 2012-2013
As 2013 begins, implementation of the major provisions of the ACA, including its coverage expansions, is less than a year away. Following the Supreme Court ruling to uphold the ACA and the 2012 elections, efforts to prepare for 2014 are moving into high gear in many states. The majority of states are capitalizing on web-based…
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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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New Issue Brief Focuses on State Action to Promote Child-Only Coverage
Editor’s Note: This blog originally appeared in the CHIRblog, a blog focused on health insurance coverage, insurance markets, and how people are affected by insurance reform. By Katie Keith, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms Today, the Commonwealth Fund released a new issue brief on the availability of child-only policies. The issue brief is part of an ongoing series by CHIR on…
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State Fact Sheets Highlight Importance of Medicaid Coverage for Children
By Ielnaz Kashefipour, American Academy of Pediatrics The American Academy of Pediatrics, in partnership with the Children’s Hospitals Association (formerly NACHRI), this week produced updated state-by-state fact sheets that explain the importance of the Medicaid program for children. These fact sheets are used in federal and state advocacy efforts to protect the Medicaid program from…
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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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ACA Protects and Improves Access to Preventive Care for Children
Medicaid and CHIP have helped millions of children access preventive care at no cost to families. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) takes this commitment further by removing cost and coverage barriers that could deter families from taking full advantage of preventive care services in private insurance plans. Since becoming law, the ACA has helped maintain…
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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…
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Despite Economic Challenges, Progress Continues: Children’s Health Insurance Coverage in the United States from 2008-2010
In this paper, health insurance data from the Census Bureau’s annual “American Community Survey” was analyzed in order to get a more accurate depiction of children’s coverage. Even though the number of children living in poverty has increased almost 19 percent over a three-year period, the number of children without health insurance declined 14 percent–…
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Fulfilling the Promise of 2014: Aligning and Simplifying Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment for Children and Parents
Simplification and alignment of policies for children in Medicaid and CHIP have helped states fill the gap in private insurance and achieve record levels of coverage for 90% of our nation’s children. These lessons are carried forward in the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of coverage through Medicaid and the Exchanges. The ACA envision a customer-friendly,…
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Medicaid and State Budgets: Looking at the Facts
Medicaid continues to make up a large share of state budgets, but its role is far more nuanced than is frequently portrayed. This series of fact sheets is designed to provide a short overview of the role of Medicaid in state budgets, the sources of spending, and details on how much each state spends. The…
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Eliminating Medicaid and CHIP Stability Provisions (MoE): What’s at Stake for Children and Families
The stability in Medicaid and CHIP can be directly attributed to the short-term fiscal relief and the federal requirements that states maintain their eligibility rules and enrollment procedures until broader health reform is implemented. If the stability provisions are rescinded, states could eliminate Medicaid for anyone who is covered at state option, as well as…
