Financing
[Editor’s Note: On March 18, 2020 the Senate passed and the President signed into law the bipartisan Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) after this blog was published.] Today (March 18, 2020), the Senate is expected to pass the House-passed coronavirus relief bill (H.R. 6201) and send it to the President’s desk. The bill […]
One of Medicaid’s many strengths is its ability to help states respond to public health epidemics. Through Medicaid, federal funds are available on an open-ended basis to match state costs of immunizing, testing, diagnosing, and treating over 71 million low-income Americans in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease. Which is a good […]
On November 18, 2019, the Trump Administration issued a proposed Medicaid “Fiscal Accountability” rule that seriously threatens to upend state budgets and reduce beneficiaries’ access to needed care. The proposed rule, if finalized, could thus harm Medicaid beneficiaries, including children and families, as well as their health care providers, in most states. As Cindy Mann […]
Avalere Health issued a new study conducted for the Children’s Hospital Association, estimating how much a per capita cap or block grant could significantly cut federal Medicaid spending on children nationally and on a state-by-state basis, relative to current law. The study models the impact of four illustrative per capita caps and block grants. It […]
On July 11, by voice vote, the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee reported out essential legislation (H.R. 3631) to avert large federal Medicaid funding shortfalls the territories will face starting in 2020. Without additional federal funding the bill would provide, the territories would have no choice but to institute damaging cuts […]
The Trump Administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget, released on March 11, includes a single legislative proposal (described here) related to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Entitled “Strengthen the CHIP Safety Net for States,” the proposal would eliminate the CHIP’s Child Enrollment Contingency Fund in fiscal year 2021 and replace it with a new Shortfall […]
