XBluesky

Missouri

  • 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,…

  • Health Reform is Working – Proof is in the Family Stories

    By Jeff Tieman, Catholic Health Association Bryce Dixon, a 24-year old dairy farmer in Cosby, Missouri near the Kansas border, suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that primarily affects the spine. This condition causes debilitating swelling of the joints and feet, as well as autoimmune deficiencies. Bryce requires twice monthly injections of a…

  • Time Is Ripe for Advocates to Weigh In on Exchanges

    By Joel Ferber, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri One of the most important ways that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will improve insurance coverage for Americans is through the development of state health insurance exchanges.  So far in 2011, ten states have enacted legislation to set up a state-based exchange while eight others have passed…

  • 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…

  • 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 If the stability provisions are rescinded, states could eliminate Medicaid for anyone who is covered at state option, as well as…

  • Holding Steady, Looking Ahead: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost Sharing Practices in Medicaid and CHIP, 2010-2011

    Over the past year, as the nation’s attention was focused on the country’s economic problems and the debate over the passage of broader health care reform, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) continued to play their vital role of providing coverage to millions of people who otherwise lack affordable coverage options. In 2010,…

  • Medicaid Managed Care – States Should Look Before They Leap (Again!)

    By Joel Ferber, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and nationally recognized expert on Medicaid A recent article in USA Today focused on Medicaid managed care and its implications for health reform.  Health insurance companies are clamoring for the substantial new business that will become available when Medicaid coverage is expanded to an estimated 16 million…

  • 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…

  • Closing the Coverage Gap: Trends in Health Insurance Coverage for Children

    From 1996-97 to 2003-04, the uninsured rate of low-income children was reduced by a third; however, the national data mask significant variation across the states in how children are faring. To provide a state-specific perspective on the issue, this brief examines health insurance trends for children in all 50 states and the District of Columbia…