ACA Marketplace Sign-Ups Outpacing Last Year, Despite Sabotage

The 2018 open enrollment period for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace coverage is off to a fast start, with over 600,000 customers selecting plans in the first four days compared to 416,000 during the first five days of last year’s period. We don’t yet know what’s driving the increase and how signups during the open…

November 14, 2017

By

Shelby Gonzales

and

Adam Searing

Media Coverage

Medical Assistance Redetermination Process Frustrates Workers and Recipients; Produces Churn

WESA September 25, 2012 By Erika Beras Eva Bednar’s 44-year-old son Andrew is an epileptic, he has been diagnosed with intermitent explosive disorder and he is borderline intellectually disabled. This summer he was one of thousands of adults who the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare cut from its medical assistance program for the poor and disabled. Andrew…

September 25, 2012

By

News Article

Research & Reports

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024: Medicaid and CHIP Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Provisions Explained

Download the Full Report Here On March 9, 2024, President Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-42). The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (CAA 2024) includes a number of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provisions related to mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) care and coverage including provisions extending…

May 20, 2024

By

Anne Dwyer

Blog

Medicaid: A Lifeline for Women’s Health Across the Lifespan

Medicaid is a critical source of health care for millions of US women, supporting them through every stage of life. Nearly 1 in 5 women aged 19-64 rely on Medicaid or CHIP. The Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansions allowed states to cover all adults up to 138% FPL, covering millions more low-income women regardless of…

June 30, 2025

By

Tanesha Mondestin

and

Kay Johnson

Blog

What’s New for 2020 Marketplace Enrollment?

On November 1, the seventh open enrollment period begins for marketplace coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We at CHIR are tracking several policy changes that could affect marketplace enrollment and plan affordability in 2020. These include: Public Charge Rule: In August 2019, the Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule that broadens the types…

October 18, 2019

By

Emily Curran

and

Adam Searing

Blog

HHS Announces More Funding for ACA Consumer Assistance through Community Health Centers

Good news! Secretary Sebelius announced today that $150 million in new funding will be made available to community health centers to help uninsured individuals connect to expanded coverage options under the ACA. The secretary’s press release noted that “with these new funds, community health centers will be able to hire new staff, train existing staff,…

May 9, 2013

By

Tricia Brooks

CCF-AAP Fact Sheet Sources

Editor’s note: The fact sheets were updated on April 23, 2025 to reflect a change in the source data regarding the share of all children in each state with Medicaid coverage. Please see the source notes below for more information. Names of Medicaid Programs State-specific names for Medicaid (as of January 2025) can be found…

February 18, 2025

Media Coverage

TennCare work requirements would cost taxpayers nearly $19 million each year, experts say

The Tennessean By: Anita Wadhwani Requiring people to work in order to keep government health insurance will hit low-income Tennessee parents, caregivers and children especially hard and cost the state more money than it saves, a panel of experts said Tuesday. … Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown Center for Children and Families, said the…

February 7, 2019

By

News Article

Research & Reports

Families First Coronavirus Response Act Medicaid and CHIP Provisions Explained

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law (P.L. 116-127) on March 18, 2020. The law is the second piece of legislation enacted by Congress in response to the coronavirus pandemic and negotiations are currently underway on a third, much larger economic stimulus package. The Families First legislation covers a broad range of…

March 22, 2020

By

Tricia Brooks

and

Andy Schneider

Blog

To Avoid Big Coverage Losses, Marketplaces Need to Prepare for the End of the Public Health Emergency

By Sabrina Corlette and Megan Houston The COVID-19 pandemic will end, and with it the federal government is expected to lift the “Public Health Emergency” (PHE) first declared on January 31, 2020 and extended seven times since then. Allowing the PHE to expire is more than the symbolic end of the pandemic; it signals the termination of numerous policies…

October 28, 2021

Blog

Unwinding Wednesday #12: More States Are Taking Advantage of Flexibilities Aimed at Mitigating Gaps in Coverage during Unwinding

A few months ago, we wrote about new data from CMS on approvals of time-limited waivers, or (e)(14) waivers, that states may adopt to smooth the unwinding process and mitigate unnecessary gaps in coverage. Only 20 states had been approved for these temporary waivers at the time the data was initially released. Since then, the…

November 30, 2022

By

Allexa Gardner

Blog

What’s New for 2022 Marketplace Enrollment?

Open Enrollment is just around the corner. There are new policies for the marketplace in 2022, including an expansion of opportunities to sign up for health coverage during and outside the annual open enrollment period. There are also new opportunities to get financial help with the enactment of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. Here…

October 26, 2021

Blog

States Leading the Way on Connecting All Children with Health Coverage – Will Congress Follow?

According to the Urban Institute, over half of the remaining uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) but unenrolled. About a third of uninsured children are ineligible for Medicaid or CHIP because their family income exceeds the eligibility thresholds. Another 10% are ineligible for Medicaid/CHIP because of their immigration…

November 15, 2022

By

Kelly Whitener

Blog

CMS Posts New Medicaid and CHIP Application Processing Time Report

Say Ahhh! readers know that I have long been frustrated at the delay in releasing state-level performance indicator data in Medicaid and CHIP. While CMS has posted enrollment and application data for some time, data on the remaining performance indicators – which were announced in September 2013 (that’s more than five years ago!) – have…

December 10, 2018

By

Tricia Brooks

Blog

Delaware and Tennessee Become First States to Cover Diapers for Young Children in Medicaid through Section 1115 Demonstrations

Last week, CMS announced the approval of section 1115 demonstration project requests from Delaware and Tennessee to provide diapers to young children covered by Medicaid. These approvals mark the first time a state has been authorized to cover diapers for infants in Medicaid regardless of medical necessity due to incontinence issues. Under federal statute, section…

May 21, 2024

By

Allexa Gardner

and

Tanesha Mondestin

Blog

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected U.S. National Health Spending

The Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently issued updated National Health Expenditure (NHE) estimates for 2020. The key takeaway is that the 2020 data offers little insight into future national health care spending trends, due to the “unprecedented government response to the global pandemic” and the…

February 3, 2022

By

Edwin Park

and

Aubrianna Osorio

Blog

Are you Ready for Open Enrollment? Updated Navigator Resource Guide will Help You Understand Policy Changes

On November 1, the sixth open enrollment period begins for marketplace coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We at the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms will soon re-launch our updated Navigator Resource Guide, made possible by the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Guide provides information on recent policy changes, a list of enrollment…

October 26, 2018

By

Emily Curran

Serving Low-Income Families Through Premium Assistance A Look At Recent State Activity

March 22, 2012

Blog

How Will We Know if States are Ready to Implement HR 1 and Work Reporting Requirements? Follow the State Performance Metrics Here.

States are just emerging from the unwinding of the pandemic-related Medicaid continuous enrollment provision when HR 1 presents a host of state budget impacts and new administrative hurdles for states. If states are already having trouble keeping up with their eligibility and enrollment administrative workload, adding work reporting requirements, six-month renewals, and mandatory cost sharing…

September 4, 2025

By

Tricia Brooks

Blog

States Pursuing Medicaid Work Requirement Waivers Must Make Changes: How the OBB Changed the Landscape for Medicaid Work Requirements

The new budget reconciliation law (aka OBBB — the One Big Beautiful Bill) makes the largest Medicaid cut in history ($990 billion over ten years). It will likely take health insurance away from about 10 million people, and another 5 million will likely lose coverage because of other Congressional Marketplace policies. It will wreak utter…

July 23, 2025

By

Leonardo Cuello

and

Joan Alker

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