Benefits & Services
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The Medicaid Expansion is Good for Parents AND Good for Children
Parents and children are more likely to have health coverage now than they were before the Affordable Care Act took effect. The Urban Institute released new research that shows the rate of insurance coverage for parents and children increased significantly between June/September 2013 and March 2017. During the time period, the rate of coverage increased…
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Who Are the Uninsured Adults?
Last week we posted a piece about the shrinking pool of uninsured adults, based on a Health Affairs study showing that the rate of adults without insurance dropped from 16 percent to 7 percent in states that took the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. Hidden at the end of this Health Affairs study, is a…
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States Say They Will Run Out of CHIP Funds Faster than Projected; Will Congress Act in Time?
Ten states project they will run out of CHIP funds before the end of 2017 according to a new brief released by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), based on responses from 42 states during the KFF’s annual Medicaid budget survey. The ten states are: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Utah.…
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CHIP Benefit Standards Won’t Protect Consumers in Graham-Cassidy Plan
Listening to the sponsors of Graham-Cassidy suggests that coverage for low-income individuals will be based on CHIP benefit standards and, of course, everyone loves CHIP, right? In fact, the proposed legislation does NOT ensure that Marketplace and Medicaid expansion enrollees will get benefits that are equivalent to CHIP in a given state. Nor does it…
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New Urban Institute Interactive Analysis Shows Rising Cost for Families Using Employer-Sponsored Insurance
It’s no secret that private health insurance is expensive and that, over time, employers have passed more and more of the cost onto workers and their families. Still, when federal policy changes are being contemplated, there is often the sense that families have access to employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) to fall back on. This is especially…
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States Could Lose Cost-Effective Express Lane Eligibility if Congress Fails to extend CHIP Promptly
When CHIP was reauthorized in 2009, it provided a new tool – known as Express Lane Eligibility (ELE) – for states to enroll and renew children’s coverage. ELE allows states the flexibility to use findings from other public programs, like SNAP, to determine eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP. ELE can be used at enrollment, renewal,…
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Why CHIP Beats the Marketplace When it Comes to Kids
Over the past few decades, policymakers have made a commitment to insuring children, as evidenced by Medicaid coverage expansions in the 1980s, the creation of CHIP in 1997, and most recently, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But not all of these coverage sources are created equal. Medicaid, the MVP for children’s coverage, offers children an…
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Marketplace Coverage is Not an Adequate Substitute for CHIP
With the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) set to expire on September 30, some political leaders and policymakers have asked whether the nearly 9 million, low-income children on CHIP could just as easily be covered on Marketplace plans. Our analysis shows that Marketplace plans would cost families more, provide fewer benefits and offer less stability…
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States Take the Lead with Policies to Protect Residents with Chronic Conditions from High Out-of-Pocket Drug Costs
This blog post originally appeared on the Center on Health Insurance Reforms blog. While there were many campaign promises to lower prescription drug costs, to date there’s been little federal action to reduce prescription drug prices or lower patients’ costs. States, however, are taking the lead with policies designed to protect consumers from the high…
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Texans Lucky Gov. Abbott Didn’t Get Wish For Medicaid Block Grant, Funding Cap Critics Say
Inside Health Policy Hurricane Harvey is the kind of natural disaster opponents of Medicaid funding caps warned about, and they say it would be much more difficult to recover from Harvey if Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) got his wish for a Medicaid block grant. … “Gov. Abbott has been a proponent of Medicaid block…
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Experts: States can adjust to lower CHIP match if they have time to prepare
Modern Healthcare By Mara Lee Keeping the enhanced match that was added to CHIP as part of the Affordable Care Act is unlikely to be the sticking point for a bipartisan deal, a senior House Republican aide said. … Kelly Whitener, associate professor of the practice at Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, said…
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Critics: Iowa’s Stopgap Insurance Plan Would Hurt Low-Income, Seniors
Public News Service DES MOINES, Iowa – A stopgap insurance plan presented this week to federal officials by Iowa’s insurance commissioner needs to be re-worked to better protect low-income and older Iowans, according to the Child & Family Policy Center. …. Mary Nelle Trefz, a health policy associate with the center, notes that the impetus…
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Congressional Plate Full, Womack Says
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette By Doug Thompson The U.S. House has until the end of September to pass a budget, a debt ceiling increase and a bevy of bills important to Arkansas, said Rep. Steve Womack of Rogers. … “Over half of the kids in the state receive benefits” from the program, said Marquita Little, health programs…
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The Future of Health Care in California
Los Angeles Sentinel By Charlene Muhammad Experts and health care providers briefed ethnic media about the future of healthcare in California as the debate about the Trump Administration’s repeal and replace of the Affordable Care Act continues. … Mayra Alvarez, president, The Children’s Partnership, which works to improve the lives of underprivileged children, noted that…
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Will Congress Pass CHIP Renewal?
MedPage Today By Shannon Firth WASHINGTON — Federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is slated to expire on Sept. 30, giving Congress a tight deadline to renew the popular program — and also an opportunity to hang other less-popular pieces of legislation onto what is widely seen as a “must-pass” bill. …..…
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How Medicaid and CHIP Shield Children from the Rising Costs of Prescription Drugs
Nearly a quarter of U.S. children use at least one prescription drug a month, most commonly treating such conditions as asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and infections. Medicaid guarantees that enrolled children who need drugs receive them without any financial barriers, while some in the Children’s Health Insurance Program have a modest copayment. This report, the third in a…
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First Steps: A Spotlight on Health and Developmental Screenings for Young Texans
By Adriana Kohler and Rebecca Hornbach, Texans Care for Children Every family looks forward to their child’s first smile, first step, and first words. Routine well-child visits and developmental screenings allow doctors and families to monitor a child’s health and development and celebrate these kinds of milestones. Ongoing screenings for young children also help identify…
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What’s at Stake if Essential Health Benefits are Scrapped? Pediatric Benefits, Protection from Lifetime Limits
As House leaders scramble to get enough votes to send the American Health Care Act to the Senate, there is a lot of horse-trading going on. None of it to the benefit of kids enrolled in Medicaid or private insurance. The most recent Affordable Care Act provision on the chopping block is the Essential Health…
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Eliminating Essential Health Benefits Will Shift Financial Risk Back to Consumers
Congress is debating the American Health Care Act, a plan to repeal and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Act does not make changes to the Essential Health Benefits (EHB), ten categories of coverage that all new plans in the individual and small group markets must include in their plans. But the…
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Top Five Ways ACA Repeal and Medicaid Financing Changes Would Harm our Youngest Children
Editor’s note: We at Say Ahhh! are getting a lot of traction around our “top 5s” on Medicaid cuts and the impact of ACA repeal and Medicaid financing changes on child welfare. So we thought we should continue the trend and focus on young children. We are grateful our colleagues at CLASP agreed to join…
