Improving Systems
Medical Care Advisory Committees are powerful tools—available in every state—for advancing effective health policies on behalf of children and families. Anyone working on state Medicaid policies needs to know about MCACs! What is an MCAC? Medical Care Advisory Committees, known as “MCACs”, are advisory bodies that provide state Medicaid agencies with formal feedback and recommendations […]
In May, Wyoming received approval to transition its separate Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) into what we call an M-CHIP program, where all children funded through CHIP coverage expansions are enrolled in Medicaid. Wyoming follows in the footsteps of North Dakota, Michigan, New Hampshire, and California – all of which converted their separate CHIP programs […]
States are continuing to push for extending Medicaid coverage for postpartum women beyond the current federal cutoff of 60 days after the end of their pregnancy. Just in the last month, three more states submitted waiver applications to CMS: Indiana, Georgia, and Texas. Before the end of the year, we submitted comments on Indiana’s limited […]
My new paper for the Commonwealth Fund analyzes how Puerto Rico’s Medicaid block grant financing contributed to Puerto Rico’s overall fiscal and debt crisis and resulted in a Medicaid program that is far less generous than what is provided in the states. Puerto Rico’s experience thus offers critical lessons to federal and state policymakers about […]
See our full blog series on evidence-based policies available to policymakers to prevent more eligible children from losing health coverage. As Say Ahhh! readers know, we began reporting on the precipitous drop in Medicaid and CHIP enrollment earlier this year after child enrollment had declined by more than half a million kids, which has now […]
Say Ahhh! readers are familiar with one of our biggest concerns about health care payment and delivery system reforms: Kids, relatively inexpensive to begin with, are often overlooked and rarely the explicit focus. It’s hard to make improvements to health care for children and youth without payment or delivery system changes. And testing new reforms […]
