Eligibility & Enrollment
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The Family Glitch Persists, Affordability Measure Increases to 9.56% in OE2
Everyone agrees it’s not fair to families and is an unintended consequence of how the Affordable Care Act is being implemented. But somehow our country’s leaders just cannot reach a consensus on fixing the family glitch. Families caught up in the glitch cannot qualify for premium tax credits to reduce the cost of a marketplace…
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Children’s Coverage at a Crossroads: Progress Slows
In 2013, for the first time in recent history, the uninsured rate for children did not significantly decline from the previous year, remaining just above seven percent. Yet in the past five years, the number of uninsured children declined substantially from just under 6.9 million to just over 5.2 million in large part due to…
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No Tricks Here, CMS Treats States with Permanent Enhanced Funding for Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment Systems
There could hardly be a sweeter treat for state Medicaid agencies than to learn that CMS is proposing to the make permanent the enhanced federal funding match of 90 percent for Medicaid eligibility and enrollment systems and a 3-year extension on certain cost-allocation requirements. It was a big deal when CMS first proposed the 90/10…
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School-Aged Children Benefit from ACA “Stairstep” Provision
One piece of the ACA that has received less attention than others (outside CCF at least!) is the requirement for states to align eligibility for all children under 19, also referred to as the elimination of “stairstep” eligibility for kids. A recent USA Today article focused new attention on this provision. Under the ACA states…
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Advocates File Civil Rights Complaint with HHS on Coverage Termination Day
Yesterday, on the day that 115,000 people who bought coverage in the federal marketplace lost coverage, the National Immigration Law Center filed two formal administrative complaints with HHS’s Office for Civil Rights alleging that the federally facilitated violated longstanding federal civil rights law and the Affordable Care Act’s anti-discrimination provisions. They request that OCR immediately…
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Children’s Coverage Improves as States Expand CHIP Eligibility
A study published in Health Affairs confirms the vital role that CHIP has played in decreasing the rate of uninsured children as well as the importance of extending federal funding for CHIP. In The Impact Of Recent CHIP Eligibility Expansions On Children’s Insurance Coverage, 2008–12, authors examined fifteen states that expanded their CHIP income eligibility…
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Uninsured Rate for Young Adults Declines
By Sophia Duong When the ACA was signed into law, I was still in college, sitting in the basement of the student union half working on a group project, and half following the news. My friends and I were ecstatic to be a part of this momentous time in history. As young adults on the…
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Early Evidence that ACA Improves Coverage of Hispanics
The CDC survey data released earlier this week provides hope that the ACA can improve coverage rates for Hispanics, a group with persistently high rates of uninsurance. In the first three months of 2014, the percentage of uninsured Hispanics decreased from 30.3% to 27.2%. This is particularly hopeful because we know that many more people…
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Health Insurance Rates Remain Steady Among Children, According to ACS
For background information regarding the 2013 American Community Survey, please review our blog Data Debrief: Overview of the ACS and CPS. On Thursday, the US Census Bureau released 2013 American Community Survey data. In accordance with the CPS, as well as recent federal and private surveys, children’s health insurance rates remained steady last year. According…
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At Senate Hearing on CHIP, Panelists Warn of Disruption
Yesterday the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on the future of Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), putting the need to extend funding front and center for members of the committee, which has jurisdiction over CHIP and Medicaid. Subcommittee members heard testimony from the following panelists: Bruce Lesley, President, First Focus James…
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What the CPS Says About Our Children’s Well-being
What the CPS Says About Our Children’s Well-being For background information regarding the 2013 Current Population Survey, please review our blog Data Debrief: Overview of the ACS and CPS. On Tuesday, the US Census Bureau published Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013, which details the results of the Current Population Survey Annual Social…
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CDC Survey Finds Uninsured Rate Drops for Adults, Remains Steady for Kids
In the rapidly changing health coverage landscape, getting an accurate snapshot of what’s happening to uninsured rates is a bit like trying to get a good photo of your new puppy sitting and smiling for the camera. Today, we got one of the most rigorous and timely snapshots that we can possibly get from a…
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Rural Children Rely on Medicaid and CHIP More than Ever
By Carrie Fitzgerald, First Focus A report released today by First Focus shows that in rural parts of the country, children are covered by public insurance sources (Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP) at a rate higher than their urban counterparts. In 2012, Medicaid and CHIP covered 47 percent of rural children compared to…
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A First Look at How the Affordable Care Act is Affecting Coverage among Parents and Children
Editor’s Note: This blog originally appeared on the Health Affairs blog. By Joan Alker, Georgetown CCF and Genevieve M. Kenney, Urban Institute Following the implementation of the major coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014, the question arises: “How is the health law affecting uninsured children and their families?” Today, the Urban…
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Looking Under the ACA Hood to Check on How Uninsured Children are Doing
Recently, CCF teamed up with the researchers at the Urban Institute to take a first look at how the Affordable Care Act is impacting the rate of uninsured children. The high level data indicates that, so far, there has been no detectable change nationally, although children’s uninsured rates remains at historically low levels. But state…
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CMS Offers Flexible Strategies for Medicaid and CHIP Renewals
Say Ahhh! readers know that I’m bullish on using technology to move Medicaid and CHIP toward data-driven, real time eligibility and enrollment. But having worked through the implementation of a new system as a CHIP director, I know how challenging this task can be. On top of that, Medicaid and CHIP are undergoing a full…
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How Does Coverage Gap Impact Parents and Kids in States Turning Down Medicaid Expansion Funds?
We know that thanks to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, America’s children are – overall – benefiting from historically high rates of health coverage (over 90% of U.S. children are now covered) even through some states still lag behind. However, low-income parents of dependent children around the country are not so fortunate if…
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More Evidence that Medicaid and CHIP offer Better Coverage Options for America’s Children
Two complementary studies published in the August 2014 issue of Health Affairs arrived at similar conclusions regarding the cost of health care for low-income kids. Low-income children covered by Medicaid and CHIP pay significantly lower premiums than children with employer-sponsored coverage and subsequently face far fewer cost barriers to coverage and care. Background: Premium Tax Credits…
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Open 24/7, Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment Gains Top 7.2 Million
The June Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment Report, released last week by CMS, shows that 7.2 million more people are now covered by Medicaid and CHIP than before the beginning of open enrollment last October. It’s not surprising that states expanding Medicaid have seen an 18.5 percent increase in Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, while those opting…
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Congress and States Work to Extend ACA’s Medicaid Primary Care Bump
By Sophia Duong A hot topic recently has been the extension of the Medicaid payment rate increases for primary care services. The ACA required states to reimburse primary care physicians who treat Medicaid beneficiaries at the higher Medicare rate for 2013 and 2014. The rate bump has garnered large support from physicians and hospitals, and…