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Eligibility & Enrollment

  • Most Important Issues for Children in the New Proposed Rule on Medicaid, CHIP and Exchanges

    By Jocelyn Guyer After an intensive few weeks spent lugging around binders filled with the latest proposed rule on Medicaid and CHIP, we’ve finally done it!  Here is our very best shot at a concise(ish) list of the top issues of concern for kids in the proposed rule.  Comments are due this Thursday and, if…

  • Florida’s Medicaid Choice Under the ACA

    These slides were used in Joan Alker’s testimony to the Senate Select Committee on PPACA in Tallahassee, FL.

  • New Mexico Says “Yes” to the Medicaid Expansion – and Now the Real Work Begins

    By Kelsey McCowan Heilman, New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and Nick Estes, New Mexico Voices for Children Earlier this month, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez announced that New Mexico will accept federal funding to expand Medicaid eligibility for adults to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). This is a critical decision for the…

  • Annual 50-State Medicaid and CHIP Survey Shows Progress and Gaps

    For the third year, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured teamed up with CCF to conduct an annual survey of state Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost-sharing practices. This year’s report, “Getting into Gear for 2014,” clearly shows that states continue to simplify and modernize Medicaid and CHIP in ways that…

  • Getting Into Gear for 2014: Findings from a 50-State Survey of Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies in Medicaid and CHIP, 2012-2013

    As 2013 begins, implementation of the major provisions of the ACA, including its coverage expansions, is less than a year away. Following the Supreme Court ruling to uphold the ACA and the 2012 elections, efforts to prepare for 2014 are moving into high gear in many states. The majority of states are capitalizing on web-based…

  • CHIP Waiting Periods Make No Sense When Families Are Penalized for Not Having Coverage

    The latest round of proposed Medicaid regulations has a number of helpful provisions but we couldn’t help be disappointed that the proposed rules allow states to continue to impose CHIP waiting periods on children who have recently been covered by group health insurance.  Simply put…waiting periods make no sense in a post-ACA universe in which…

  • Louisiana Shows States can Streamline Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment AND Achieve Low Eligibility Error Rates

    By Stan Dorn, Urban Institute Sometimes people fear that streamlining Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and retention may increase error rates. Louisiana has once again shown, in the words of the Gershwin classic, that “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” On November 21, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the state’s 2011 Payment Error Rate…

  • HHS Sheds Light on How Family Income Will be Calculated Under New MAGI Method for Medicaid and CHIP

    By Jocelyn Guyer Over the holidays, while we were all relaxing with family and friends (or sneaking off for fiscal cliff updates), HHS issued an important “Dear State Medicaid Director” letter that will help to determine the income levels for children’s coverage under Medicaid and CHIP for at least the next six years.  Not quite…

  • Participation Among Children and Parents -Urban Institute Presentation

    Participation Among Children and Parents -Urban Institute Presentation

  • New Report Adds Insights to Debate on Whether Florida Should Exercise Medicaid Option

    Governor Rick Scott of Florida, famously a staunch opponent of the Affordable Care Act, recently signaled a new willingness to join the conversation on how to put the law to work for Florida families. Today, we are releasing a report that will help give those engaged in the conversation some sound data and research to help guide…

  • Florida’s Medicaid Choice: Understanding Implications of Supreme Court Ruling on Affordable Health Care Act

    Georgetown University Health Policy Institute researchers estimate that 800,000 to 1.3 million uninsured Floridians would gain health coverage with no net cost to the state if Florida chose to exercise the option to extend Medicaid coverage to residents with incomes at or below 133% FPL as provided under the Affordable Care Act. Moreover, the researchers estimate…

  • Florida’s Medicaid Choice Slides

    View the report here. View the press release here. Georgetown University Health Policy Institute researchers estimate that 800,000 to 1.3 million uninsured Floridians would gain health coverage with no net cost to the state if Florida chose to exercise the option to extend Medicaid coverage to residents with incomes at or below 133% FPL as provided…

  • Countdown Clock Toward 2014 is Ticking (No More Timeouts)

    The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land – even House Speaker John Boehner affirmed that point in an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC Nightly News. The countdown clock on implementation is ticking and there are no more time outs left.  States need to move full speed ahead to beat the clock…

  • What Do the Election Results Mean for the Affordable Care Act?

    Last night was a good night for health care reform and the millions of Americans who will benefit from it. The Affordable Care Act has faced years of mudslinging, attempts to defund it, a Supreme Court challenge and played a high profile role in this year’s election. The election results underscore the fact that the…

  • Uninsured Children 2009-2011: Charting the Nation’s Progress

    Georgetown University Center for Children and Families researchers analyzed health insurance data from the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey to get a closer look at children’s coverage trends. The authors found that the nation continues to make steady progress covering children, despite no re­duction in the number of children living in poverty. A strong commitment to…

  • Covering Parents is Good for Kids: Treating Depressed Mothers Can Help Children’s Development

    Editor’s Note:  Welcome to the fourth in a series of blogs on how covering parents helps children.  Previous blogs on this topic have pointed out that extending Medicaid coverage to parents will provide a good value to states; maternal, infant and early childhood home visiting programs help prevent child maltreatment; and the single best way…

  • Pregnant Women’s Medicaid Eligibility After 2014 – What’s the Minimum?

    By Martha Heberlein A great degree of confusion surrounds this question and for good reason. You may be surprised to learn that come January 1, 2014, states must cover pregnant women in Medicaid at either 133% of the FPL OR the income standard in place as of December 19, 1989 (or as of July 1,…

  • Uninsured Vets and Their Families Will Benefit from ACA

    It was somewhat startling to learn that one in ten veterans are uninsured in the U.S.  A report released earlier this summer by the Urban Institute’s Jennifer Haley and Genevieve Kenney (based on 2010 ACS data) found that 1.3 million of the nation’s 12.5 million nonelderly veterans did not have health insurance coverage and weren’t using…

  • Federal Policy Makes a Difference in the Lives of Children and Families

    As many readers know, this week the annual Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey numbers were released and the number of uninsured persons actually declined for the first time since 2007 – by 1.4 million.  Since 2007 the number of uninsured adults has been growing – this year marks the first turnaround. This bit of good…

  • More Kids Will Be Connected with Coverage Thanks to ACA

    By Lincoln Nehring, Voices for Utah Children The Affordable Care Act reduces the number of eligible, but unenrolled kids in Medicaid and CHIP. Despite what you may have heard, this is a good thing. In a recent opinion piece in the Washington Times, Utah Governor Gary Herbert concedes that the ACA’s now-optional Medicaid expansion is…