Coverage Initiatives
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New Research: Medicaid Expansions Increase Coverage More in Rural Areas than in Urban Areas
Rural areas and small towns across America have special problems accessing health care. Our colleagues at the University of North Carolina’s Rural Health Program have tracked the increasing numbers of rural hospital closures around the country. The Rural Health Information Hub is also a great resource on the opportunities and challenges for rural health delivery…
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CMS Administrator’s Proposed Changes to Medicaid: Reprehensible
Earlier this week, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Seema Verma, gave a major policy address to the National Association of Medicaid Directors. After invoking Hubert Humphrey on the moral tests of government – her office is in the Humphrey building — she characterized expanding Medicaid coverage to uninsured adults without…
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What Are the Consequences of Congressional Delay on CHIP?
Funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expired nearly a month ago and Congress still has not passed legislation to extend funding. Researchers at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families took a look at the consequences of the delay in CHIP funding. “This delay in funding CHIP is really unchartered territory and puts…
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Will Federal CHIP Coverage Continue For California Kids?
Jefferson Public Radio By Sammy Caiola Mayra Alvarez of The Children’s Partnership, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, says the last time there was a CHIP funding delay was in 2009. “Previously when federal CHIP dollars were delayed, California was forced to impose freezes on enrollment. We hope it doesn’t get to that point.” Alvarez urges the…
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Will Congress Renew CHIP Before Texas Funding Runs Out?
Houston Public Media By Abner Fletcher Insurance coverage for more than 390,000 Texas children and pregnant women is in jeopardy. Patrick Bresette, executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund’s Texas office, joins us to discuss how the CHIP program works, its history, and what hurdles remain to its reauthorization. Read more here.
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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…
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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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California Kids Still Face Risks to Health Care
New America Media By Viji Sundarum Get repeal and replace done, or else! That ultimatum by President Trump to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ordering him to get rid of Obamacare may be mere sabre rattling, but nevertheless the majority of Republicans in the Senate are still bent on upending the health care law despite three…
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Some Lawmakers See Leeway In Children’s Health Program Deadline
Congressional Quarterly The Children’s Health Insurance Program’s funding deadline looms at the end of next month, but advocacy groups are worried that reauthorization won’t be addressed until funding is fully exhausted later in the year. … “There is a false sense that Congress has more time to act,” said Elisabeth Wright Burak, senior program…
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Arkansas Health Hub Panel Urges Slight ‘Navigator’ Funding Rise
Arkansas Democrat By Andy Davis A committee of the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace recommended Wednesday that the agency slightly increase its spending on outreach workers to help people sign up for coverage. … Committee member Marquita Little, health care policy director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, said she is concerned that the state’s…
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Federal Funding Expiration Has Utah Health Groups Concerned
KUER By Erik Neumann September 30th marks the end of the federal government’s fiscal year. Local healthcare advocates are concerned because it’s the time when federal funding for two health programs in Utah is set to expire. …. Jessie Mandle is a Senior Health Policy Analyst at Voices for Utah Children. “Just given the overall…
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More Children In U.S. Illegally To Receive Health Care
Huffington Post By Michael Ollove Last year, California extended full Medicaid benefits to child immigrants, no matter their immigration status, if their families otherwise meet the income thresholds for the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Dolores, now 17, is enrolled. …. “These benefits give parents great peace of mind and…
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State Won’t Break Even On Foxconn Deal Until At Least 2043
WORT FM By WORT FM News Department and Nina Kravinsky The legislative fiscal bureau says it will take at least 25 years for Wisconsin’s incentives package for the manufacturer to break even. … Director of the non-profit Wisconsin Budget Project Jon Peacock says the deal is quote “unprecedented.” Also in the bill — a tax…
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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…
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States Prepare For Losing CHIP Funding Despite Reassurances From Congress
Inside Health Policy States have started preparing in case federal funds for the Children’s Health Insurance Program run out, the National Academy for State Health Policy said, and CMS recently discussed CHIP contingency plans with state officials, though states received assurances of bipartisan support for CHIP by Senate Finance Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and ranking…
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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.
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Drug Puts A $750,000 ‘Price Tag On Life’
NPR Shots By Julie Appleby Jana Gundy and Amanda Chaffin, who live within two hours of each other in Oklahoma, each have a child with the same devastating disease. The genetic condition, spinal muscular atrophy, robs its sufferers of muscle strength, affecting their ability to sit, stand or even breathe. … With any costly new…
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Prior to the ACA, Where You Lived Determined How Accessible and Affordable Coverage Would Be
By Sandy Ahn, originally posted on CHIRblog Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA), what state you lived in determined how easily you could purchase a health plan, the price, and what the plan would cover in the individual market. Rules varied by state, but one common fact was that insurers could use your health status…
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CBO: Repealing ACA Would Double Number of Uninsured in Two Years
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released an updated projection on how repealing the ACA through budget reconciliation would lead to rising numbers of uninsured and increases in premiums on the marketplace. CBO based projections on the Reconciliation Act passed in 2015 and vetoed by President Obama, which would have…
