Eligibility & Enrollment
-
It’s Time to Shed More Light on State Medicaid Quality
by Jon Peacock and Sashi Gregory, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families Last week was Sunshine Week, the annual nationwide celebration of access to public information. Now that the celebrating is over, perhaps it’s a good time to bring up an area where Wisconsin needs to let in considerably more sunshine – health care quality measures…
-
Florida Children’s Health Expert Shares Insights on Major Turning Point for Immigrant Kids
By Diana Ragbeer, The Children’s Trust On Thursday, March 17, Governor Rick Scott signed HB 5101 into law, thereby lifting the five-year waiting period for lawfully residing immigrant children to receive subsidized CHIP and Medicaid through Florida KidCare. This makes Florida the 31st state to take advantage of the provision known as the Legal Immigrant Children’s…
-
A Primer on Health Care Quality Measurement and Improvement for Children in Medicaid and CHIP
When I was the CHIP Director in New Hampshire, we thought that achieving a 95% rate of coverage for kids was the high bar. As a country, we are not only closing in on that goal, but leading states have raised the bar to 98% and beyond. And while we must continue to eliminate disparities…
-
Measuring and Improving Health Care Quality for Children in Medicaid and CHIP: A Primer for Child Health Stakeholders
A large body of evidence shows that, compared to low-income uninsured children, Medicaid has been highly successful in providing children with a usual source of care and regular well-child care while significantly reducing unmet or delayed needs for medical care, dental care, and prescription drugs due to costs. Nonetheless, quality improvement centers on the notion…
-
Report Provides (Some) Insight on Network Adequacy as New Regulations Promise More
By Sean Miskell As more Americans gain coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) marketplaces, attention is increasingly turning to the quality of this coverage, especially concerning the adequacy of the provider networks available under these plans. Questions about the scope of networks for plans sold through the Marketplace are important with regard to access…
-
Improving Health Care Access for American Indians and Alaska Natives
by Jesse Cross-Call, originally posted on cbpp.org An updated policy for how the federal government helps finance the costs of Medicaid services for American Indians and Alaska Natives will improve the delivery of care and save states money. Medicaid plays a critical role in providing health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives; a quarter…
-
Research Shows that Utah and Florida’s “ICHIA Option” Will Improve Access to Health Coverage and Services For Lawfully Residing Immigrant Children
Last week, both the Utah and Florida legislatures passed laws that extend Medicaid and CHIP coverage to lawfully residing children who would otherwise have had to wait five years before becoming eligible to enroll. This is a big victory in two states with some of the highest child uninsurance rates in the country. Related Content…
-
Oklahoma’s Proposed Medicaid Cut Won’t Pass Federal Muster
by Jesse Cross-Call, originally posted on cbpp.org Oklahoma’s Senate is considering legislation, which its House passed last week, to end Medicaid coverage for 110,000 very low-income parents. But even if Oklahoma enacts the legislation, federal officials almost certainly won’t grant the needed federal approval to move forward. By federal law, states must provide Medicaid coverage…
-
FAQ: Health Marketplace Tax Penalties, Exemptions, Reconciliation, and Special Enrollment Periods
By Tricia Brooks, Sandy Ahn, Sabrina Corlette, and JoAnn Volk, this was originally posted March 9, 2015 under the title “Confused about What Happens at Tax Time? FAQs on Penalties, Exemptions, Reconciliation, and SEPs“. As part of our Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded work in providing technical assistance to consumer assisters in five states, we…
-
Some Tax Guidance for People in Immigrant Families
Now that we are knee-deep in tax season, we have heard reports of confusion about new tax filing rules related to health coverage for people in immigrant families. Here are some of the common questions we’ve heard so far and our answers. Related Content: ICHIA Fact Sheet: CHIP and Health Coverage for Lawfully Residing Children…
-
IRS Issues Guidance on Overlapping Medicaid and Marketplace Coverage
At last, we have IRS guidance informing consumers and tax preparers about issues with overlapping coverage through Medicaid and the Marketplace. I described this problem in a recent blog, highlighting the confusion that could result from 1095 forms showing dual coverage in Medicaid and the Marketplace. We have been concerned that during the tax reconciliation…
-
How Milwaukee Won the White House Healthy Communities Challenge
In November, the White House launched a “Healthy Communities Challenge” and identified twenty cities with large numbers or high percentages of uninsured individuals to compete in enrolling new people in plans during OE3. Through this challenge, communities made concentrated efforts to reach remaining uninsured individuals and helped connect them to coverage. Good news and hearty…
-
EPSDT: A Primer on Medicaid’s Pediatric Benefit
Children enrolled in Medicaid are entitled to a comprehensive array of preventive and ameliorative care through the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit. Beyond the indecipherable acronym, EPSDT is a critically important benefit that is broadly recognized as the definitive standard for children. We’ve broken down the acronym in this fact sheet,…
-
CMS Releases 2015 Report on the Quality of Health Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP
Now that CMS has released the fifth annual Quality of Health Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP, let’s take a look at the highlights of the children’s report. First, some background: the 2009 CHIP Reauthorization Act launched a wide-ranging set of initiatives to advance pediatric health care quality measurement and improvement. At the top…
-
One More Chance to Comment on SBC Changes
Originally posted on the CHIRblog. Last week, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury and Labor released a proposed revised template for the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC), giving the public 30 days to comment before these long-coming changes are finalized. The process for implementing changes to the SBC template began in December…
-
Healthcare.gov Changing Approach to Special Enrollment Periods, May be Bumpy Road for Consumers
This was originally posted on the CHIRblog. Lost your job? Moving to a new area? Having a baby? Make sure you have documentation of these life events if you want health insurance through healthcare.gov. Recently announced, the administration will now require verifying documents from consumers who enroll or change their plans using a special enrollment…
-
Getting Enrollment Right for Immigrant Families
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has yielded impressive progress in reducing the ranks of the uninsured, with more than 12 million people covered by the health insurance marketplaces alone. However, meeting the goal of enrolling the remaining seven million people who are eligible for marketplace coverage but are still uninsured— even after the third open…
-
GAO Report Raises Concerns About Waiving Medicaid Transportation Benefits
By Sean Miskell As states debating whether to expand Medicaid (and some that already have) consider changes to their Medicaid programs via 1115 waivers, one proposal that keeps popping up is the elimination of non-emergency medical transportation benefits (NEMT). This week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on state efforts to waive NEMT…
-
SHADAC Report Echoes Good News on Uninsured Rate for Children
The State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) published its annual report “State Level Trends in Children’s Health Insurance Coverage” and it is an excellent state resource on children’s health coverage rates. Similar to Georgetown’s annual report on children’s health insurance, SHADAC reports on state-by-state coverage rates for children and provides additional data on children’s…
-
Commonwealth Fund Tool Demonstrates Effects of State Efforts to Expand Coverage and Improve Enrollment
By Sean Miskell Comparing outcomes across states provides an opportunity to consider how state-specific approaches to administering their health programs provide coverage to their residents and help them stay enrolled. Say Ahhh! readers certainly know that we like our 50-state tables here at CCF. The Commonwealth Fund has updated its interactive tool that allows users…
