Texas
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Hard Work Pays Off for “Waiver Watchers”
By Wesley Prater A number of states looking to save money in their Medicaid programs are asking the federal government for Section 1115 Research and Demonstration waivers — in some cases asking for federal protection that preserve their coverage for children and families to be loosened. However, recently three states – New Jersey, Texas, and…
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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 its Role for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN): A Family Perspective
The nation’s children have a lot at stake in the ongoing federal and state level debates over Medicaid’s role in deficit reduction efforts. Children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) are most vulnerable to Medicaid cuts because so many rely on it. Approximately 14% (10.2 million) of children meet the criteria of having…
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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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What Conservative States Want: Health Care for Children
By Christine Sinatra, Texans Care for Children A couple of years ago in a seminar for children’s health advocates, a pollster shared some promising new national data: about 9 out of 10 voters said they support public children’s health insurance programs. Up went the hands of those of us in the room from the red…
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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…
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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,…
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Let’s Have an “Adult Conversation” about Opting Out of Medicaid
By Anne Dunkelberg, Center for Public Policy Priorities, Texas Just last August, Texas advocates chuckled and sighed along with our Arizona colleagues when the Onion ran the headline, “Texas Vows to Reclaim Title of Most Regressive State from Arizona.” That satire piece included references to our Governor Rick Perry’s very real 2009 statements about the…
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Dropping Out of Medicaid? Wyoming Has Taken a Look at the Consequences
By Martha Heberlein An idea has been floating about suggesting that states that don’t want to comply with the new Medicaid provisions will simply “opt out” of the program. While much of the recent chatter has centered on Texas, Governor Freudenthal of Wyoming asked his Department of Health to examine the issue back in March.…
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Location Matters
By Martha Heberlein I know I’ve said it dozens of times – states are different. Like people themselves, they have their own characteristics, quirks, and personalities that make them unique. But what about within states – are there differences of note? Why, of course (I’m sure we can all think of a long list of…
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Advocates Can Guide and Support Efforts to Advance Children’s Coverage: Reports Show How
By Eugene Lewit and Liane Wong The David and Lucile Packard Foundation The percent of uninsured children has consistently declined, despite deterioration of coverage for adults and the economy. This is one of the significant but frequently overlooked good news stories of recent years. The gains in children’s coverage have been due in large part to…
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More States Are Saying Yes to Kids Coverage
One of the most common questions we get at CCF is, “What are states doing to cover kids?” Since CHIP was reauthorized in February, this question has taken on a new twist: “Are states doing more to cover children since the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009 was signed by President Obama?” The answer…
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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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States Moving Forward: Children’s Health Coverage in 2007-08
To a surprising extent, given the weakening economy and growing fiscal strains, states have continued to move forward in their efforts to expand and improve health coverage for children. Notably, over the last year, nineteen states provided health coverage for more uninsured children and families by expanding Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program…
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Children’s Health Coverage: States Moving Forward
This report provides results from a nationwide review of state efforts to provide health care coverage to uninsured children between January 2006 and mid-April 2007. It shows that a large number of states throughout the country have proposed, passed, or implemented initiatives to cover more children through three primary strategies: finding, enrolling, and keeping SCHIP-…
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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…