Eligibility & Enrollment
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Kentucky’s Proposed Waiver Could Undermine its Successful Medicaid Expansion
By Sean Miskell and Adam Searing Kentucky has released a new Medicaid waiver request for state public comment today. This proposal would allow the state to make significant changes to its existing Medicaid program, affecting not only those newly eligible beneficiaries currently receiving health care through Kentucky’s existing Medicaid expansion, but also others served by…
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How the New Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Regulations Improve Consumer Information
As my colleague, Kelly Whitener, announced last week, thanks to a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, CCF has teamed with NHeLP to launch a series of explainer briefs to unpack the new Medicaid/CHIP managed care regulations. The first brief, Looking at the New Medicaid/CHIP Regulations Through a Children’s Lens, was published last week.…
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Study: Medicaid Offers Stronger Cost Sharing Protections Compared with Marketplace Coverage
By Sean Miskell When we consider the effects of state decisions not to expand Medicaid, we rightfully focus much of our attention on those that are locked out of coverage. However, a new study by researchers at the Commonwealth Fund considers the experience of consumers above the poverty line that are eligible for subsidized Marketplace…
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A Missed Opportunity to Learn from Wisconsin’s Health Reform Implementation
By Jon Peacock, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families Wisconsin received a federal waiver to make significant changes to BadgerCare in 2014, and one of the conditions of that “demonstration waiver” was that the state would evaluate the effects of the policy changes. A national health policy expert, Sara Rosenbaum, reviewed the planned evaluation and…
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Fact Sheet: Medicaid’s Role for Children
Medicaid is an essential source of health coverage for the nation’s children. The program provides health coverage to children and parents in low-income families who lack access to affordable private health insurance, as well as to children with special health care needs.
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California Moves Toward Offering Full Price Coverage to Ineligible Immigrants in its Marketplace
Governor Brown recently signed into law SB 10, a bill that requires Covered California—the state’s health insurance marketplace—to request a waiver from the federal government to allow immigrants who are currently ineligible to purchase marketplace coverage. If the waiver is granted, immigrants who are not lawfully present would be allowed to purchase health coverage at…
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How Did Arizona Reach a Bipartisan Agreement to Re-open KidsCare?
By Joe Fu, Children’s Action Alliance of Arizona After six years without KidsCare, Arizona will no longer be the only state in the country without a functioning Children’s Health Insurance (CHIP) program. With bipartisan support, Arizona’s Legislature pushed through a measure to reinstate KidsCare in the final moments of the session. On May 6, 2016, Arizona’s…
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Six States Hold the Key to Reaching Nearly Half of the Uninsured Kids Who Are Eligible for Medicaid/CHIP
By Genevieve M. Kenney, Jennifer Haley, Clare Pan, Victoria Lynch, and Matthew Buettgens, Urban Institute, Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation We recently examined how children’s coverage fared during the first year of implementation of the major coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We found increases in participation in Medicaid and the Children’s…
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New CMS Guidance Highlights Policy Options for Screening and Treating Maternal Depression
By Stephanie Schmit and Christina Walker, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released an Informational Bulletin (IB) highlighting the critical role Medicaid can play in supporting state policy choices to promote young children’s healthy development through maternal depression screening and treatment. The guidance in the…
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Comprehensive Coverage for Children in California—Regardless of Immigration Status—Begins Today
Today is great day for kids in California. All children in California now—regardless of their immigration status—have access to free or low cost, comprehensive, health coverage if their family income is at or below 266 percent of the federal poverty level (about $53,625 for a family of three). According to the Berkeley Labor Center, up to…
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New Georgetown Report: Understanding the Consumer Enrollment Experience in the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces
Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms released a report this week, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, that provides new insights into the many challenges facing consumers and those tasked with assisting them when enrolling into coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces. The findings can help policymakers better understand the kinds of systemic…
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New Study Confirms that ACA Welcome Mat for Kids was Indeed Welcoming
My favorite study from our wonderful colleagues at the Urban Institute has just been released, and it underscores that the sharp reduction in the uninsured rate for children was closely linked to the ACA. The study, like others before it (including our own) documents the decline in the number of uninsured children to historic lows…
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Recent Changes to the Free Care Rule Put Federal Funds Back on the Table
The so-called “Free Care Rule” prevented states from receiving federal Medicaid funds to provide any service that is ordinarily provided for free to the community at large, even if Medicaid would cover these services for its beneficiaries. For instance, if a public school nurse were to examine a student, federal funds could not be used…
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Indiana Study Documents Unmet Need for Transportation to Care
By Marsha Simon, PhD. Even with the federal government’s official evaluation forthcoming, Indiana’s evaluation of its waiver to drop non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) benefits is telling. The evaluation found a significant number of individuals on Medicaid are missing appointments because they lack transportation. According to survey results, 6 percent of Medicaid recipients under the waiver…
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CHIR Expert Testifies Before U.S. House Education & Workforce Committee about Innovations in Health Care
By Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms Sabrina Corlette of the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms joined a panel of witnesses before the Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions of the Education & Workforce Committee to discuss “Innovations in Health Care: Exploring Free-Market Solutions for a Healthy Workforce.” Other panelists at…
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Video Highlights of Hearing on “Flint Water Crisis: Impacts and Lessons Learned”
On Wednesday, April 13, Georgetown CCF’s Executive Director Joan Alker testified before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on lessons emerging from the Flint water crisis. Here are the highlights of the hearing. Joan Alker explains the vital role of Medicaid in ameliorating harm in times of crisis… and how Medicaid can help meet…
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Testimony for Hearing on “The Flint Water Crisis: Impacts and Lessons Learned”
The following prepared remarks were delivered by Joan Alker on April 13, 2016 before the Subcommittee on Health and Subcommittee on the Environment of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for the hearing “Flint Water Crisis: Impacts and Lessons Learned.” Her views do not represent those of Georgetown University. My name is Joan Alker, and…
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New Brief Highlights States’ Experiences in Implementing Ex Parte Renewals in Medicaid and CHIP
Eligible children and families losing Medicaid or CHIP coverage at renewal for procedural or paperwork reasons has been a persistent problem. As Harvard researcher Dr. Benjamin Sommers has aptly noted, poor retention rather than poor take-up is the main reason why millions of children eligible for Medicaid and CHIP are uninsured. Dr. Sommers’ research has…
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Making Medicaid Work Better: Lessons from States on Implementing Ex Parte Renewals
This brief focuses on states’ experiences in implementing data-driven renewals in Medicaid through a process called ‘ex parte’ – using third party data sources to confirm ongoing eligibility. We interviewed officials in eight diverse states to identify the challenges states face in automating the renewal process and summarize their experiences in overcoming these barriers to…
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President Obama’s Budget Takes State-Level Debates over Surprise Out-of-Network Bills to National Policymakers
by Sandy Ahn, Jack Hoadley and Sabrina Corlette of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms, originally posted on Health Affairs Blog, March 22, 2016 President Obama’s final budget proposal was met with little fanfare, but a lot of political opposition. The President, however, put forth one legislative proposal that deserves attention. It is aimed at helping…
