Utah
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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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Under Pressure: An Update on Restrictive State Insurance Marketplace Consumer Assistance Laws
By Justin Giovanelli, Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms To help consumers enroll in the recently opened health insurance marketplaces, the Affordable Care Act created outreach and consumer assistance positions such as “navigators,” in-person assisters, and certified application counselors. Though they are subject to uniform federal standards, in practice, these programs range widely from…
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Tech Tuesday: Electronic Notices Are Coming to Medicaid and CHIP, But Maybe Not Until 2015
In looking again at the “cats and dogs regulations” released in July, I see that CMS has removed any ambiguity about providing Medicaid and CHIP notices electronically. The health care law directs states to provide consumers with the option to receive notices in a secure, electronic format in lieu of written notices by regular mail.…
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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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23 States Receive CHIPRA Performance Bonuses for Removing Barriers and Enrolling Children in Health Coverage
Demonstrating that covering kids is still a very high priority across the nation, twenty-three states earned CHIPRA performance bonuses for improving access to children’s health coverage and successfully enrolling eligible children. The states will split a total of nearly $306 million. The 23 states include: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Montana,…
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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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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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More Kids Will Be Connected with Coverage Thanks to ACA
By Lincoln Nehring, Voices for Utah Children The Affordable Care Act reduces the number of eligible, but unenrolled kids in Medicaid and CHIP. Despite what you may have heard, this is a good thing. In a recent opinion piece in the Washington Times, Utah Governor Gary Herbert concedes that the ACA’s now-optional Medicaid expansion is…
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Covering Parents: A Solution Child Advocates Can Get Behind
Before the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, we released a paper highlighting the fact that 4.9 million parents stand to gain coverage through Medicaid in 2014. That research became even more significant after the Supreme Court ruling removed an important mechanism for the HHS Secretary to incentivize states to accept federal funds…
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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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Taking Stock of Important Milestones as ACA Turns Two
By Kevin Lucia, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center on Health Insurance Studies When a child turns two, it’s natural to take stock of all the milestones they have achieved such as first steps, first words and first solid foods. Some parents are even organized enough to document all these achievements in a baby book. …
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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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Good News for Utah’s Children: CMS Upholds Key Affordability and Benefit Protections
By Lincoln Nehring, Voices for Utah Children In 2011 Utah passed SB 180, Medicaid Reform. As with many Medicaid reform efforts happening across the country, SB 180’s broad theme was good: control costs through improved care management and quality. However, also like many Medicaid reform efforts happening around the country, Utah’s “improved quality” theme came…
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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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Essential Health Benefits: What Does the CHIP Experience Show Us?
So my previous blog on this topic talked about how the CHIP/Essential Health Benefits analogy has its limits – still it is interesting to look at the choices that states have made for their benefits packages in separate state CHIP programs. According to data collected and released by NASHP from mid-2008, the most popular choice…
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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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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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National Children’s Groups Express Concerns About Utah’s Waiver Request
By Joe Touschner We’ve pointed out the flaws in Utah’s request for a Medicaid waiver in a previous blog post But we wanted to call your attention to them once again since today we submitted a letter to federal officials voicing the concerns of many national groups. Thanks to all of you who joined us in…
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Utah’s Waiver Proposal–Join Us in Speaking Up for Kids
By Joe Touschner Like many states, Utah has been working to redesign its Medicaid program in an effort to contain costs–the state submitted a Section 1115 demonstration waiver application to CMS earlier this month. As my colleague Joan Alker has blogged about in the past, waivers are often adopted with little public transparency even though…