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Wisconsin

  • Nation’s Progress on Children’s Health Coverage Reverses Course

    Introduction For the first time since comparable data was first collected in 2008, the nation’s steady progress in reducing the number of children without health insurance reversed course. The number of uninsured children under age 19 nationwide increased by an estimated 276,000 to about 3.9 million (3,925,000) in 2017, according to newly-available data from the…

  • Medicaid Waiver Wars: CMS Strikes Back

    Late last month, a federal District Court ruled that the approval of the Kentucky Medicaid work requirements waiver by the Secretary of Health and Human Services was “arbitrary and capricious” because, among other things, even though the record showed that 95,000 people would lose Medicaid coverage, “the Secretary paid no attention to that deprivation.”  The…

  • State Medicaid and CHIP Snapshots, 2018

    The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) created factsheets underscoring the importance of Medicaid in providing coverage for children in all 51 states (including the District of Columbia). Sources are available here. Previous snapshots can be found here. 

  •  Wisconsin’s Partial Medicaid Expansion Covers Far Fewer People at Much Greater Cost

    Among the 19 states that have yet to expand Medicaid to all adults up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, Wisconsin is the only one that covers all adults that are below the poverty level. It’s a policy choice that compares favorably to the 18 other “non-expansion” states; however, Wisconsin’s partial expansion covers…

  • Tracking Medicaid Work Requirement Proposals

    We here at Georgetown University CCF are closely tracking Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration waiver proposals as states attempt to create new barriers to coverage. There are many troubling proposals pending, but one of the most common is the imposition of a work or community service requirement as a condition of Medicaid coverage. As a reference,…

  • Nationwide Rate of Uninsured Children Reaches Historic Low

    Nationwide 95.5 percent of children had health insurance in 2016, up from 95.2 percent the previous year—and up from 92.9 percent in 2013, the year before the ACA was fully implemented. While relatively few children rely on the ACA’s Marketplace for insurance, many gained coverage in Medicaid or CHIP when their parents signed up for…

  • Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver Comments

    Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families contributes an independent perspective to the public dialogue on the future of Medicaid through the lens of children and their families.

  • Medicaid’s “Welcome Mat” Effect Means Medicaid Expansion Helps Children Get Health Coverage

    New research in the journal Health Affairs this month gives even more evidence for a parental “welcome mat” effect that increases health coverage among children already eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program when their parents become eligible as well.  Simply put, moving to “whole family coverage” through a state Medicaid expansion or…

  • State CHIP Snapshots

    The Role of CHIP in Children’s Coverage In 2016 the children’s health insurance coverage rate in the United States dropped to just above 95 percent, an impressive achievement. Key to this success is the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage to children who do not qualify for Medicaid but whose families cannot otherwise afford…

  • Groups Urge Congress to Renew Children’s Health Insurance Program

    WIZM By Mitch Reynolds Lower income kids suddenly not having health coverage is a real possibility in just a few weeks. Kids Forward in Wisconsin is among the groups warning against Congress delaying a vote on renewing the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). … Jon Peacock, with the group Kids Forward, says renewal is important…

  • Critics Ask: What’s The Financial Fallout If Foxconn Fails To Live Up To ‘The Hype’?

    The Cap Times By Lisa Speckhard Pasque Since the announcement that Taiwan LCD manufacturer Foxconn will build a factory in Wisconsin, the news has been full of numbers: the potential number of jobs created, the billions Foxconn will invest and the billions in tax incentives. … Jon Peacock, director of the Wisconsin Budget Project, appeared…

  • The High Cost of Foxconn

    The Urban Milwaukee By Jon Peacock The cost of the proposed new tax credits for the tentative deal with Foxconn could be far larger per job created than some people have suggested. Those costs will vary greatly depending on the ratio of spending for payroll versus the capital expenditures.

  • Wisconsin Waiver Would Create Unprecedented Barriers to Medicaid Access

    Wisconsin officials are seeking unprecedented changes in the state’s Medicaid coverage for adults without dependent children.  The draft proposals (summarized here) would significantly increase the number of uninsured Wisconsinites, make the state less healthy, and impede efforts to increase the Wisconsin workforce. From a national perspective, the section 1115 waiver that Wisconsin is seeking would…

  • 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…

  • Report Suggests Improved Outreach and Enrollment Efforts Directed at Very Poor Parents Needed

    As I was flying back from Atlanta the other night, I read a fascinating new paper by researchers at the Urban Institute (a team led by the esteemed Genevieve Kenney), which looks at adult uninsured rates and participation rates in Medicaid. In particular, the researchers examine how the number of uninsured parents and childless adults…

  • Another Success for Affordable Care Act: Sharp Drop in Uncompensated Care

    Reduction in Charity Care Creates Opportunity for Investments in Community Health By Jon Peacock, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families New data from the Wisconsin Hospital Association show that the federal health care reform law has had the desired effect of causing a sharp drop in uncompensated care. That’s great news because much of the…

  • A Missed Opportunity to Learn from Wisconsin’s Health Reform Implementation

    By Jon Peacock, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families Wisconsin received a federal waiver to make significant changes to BadgerCare in 2014, and one of the conditions of that “demonstration waiver” was that the state would evaluate the effects of the policy changes. A national health policy expert, Sara Rosenbaum, reviewed the planned evaluation and…

  • It’s Time to Shed More Light on State Medicaid Quality

    by Jon Peacock and Sashi Gregory, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families Last week was Sunshine Week, the annual nationwide celebration of access to public information. Now that the celebrating is over, perhaps it’s a good time to bring up an area where Wisconsin needs to let in considerably more sunshine – health care quality measures…

  • How Milwaukee Won the White House Healthy Communities Challenge

    In November, the White House launched a “Healthy Communities Challenge” and identified twenty cities with large numbers or high percentages of uninsured individuals to compete in enrolling new people in plans during OE3. Through this challenge, communities made concentrated efforts to reach remaining uninsured individuals and helped connect them to coverage. Good news and hearty…

  • Administration’s Budget Proposal Would Make Medicaid Expansion an Even Better Deal for Wisconsin and Other States

    By Jon Peacock and Sashi Gregory, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families The proposed budget released this week by President Obama would make the expansion of Medicaid an even better deal for states like Wisconsin that have not yet taken up the option. If Wisconsin expanded BadgerCare (Wisconsin’s Medicaid program) eligibility in January 2017, the…