Preserving Coverage
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New Efforts to Cut Medicaid and Repeal ACA Emerging in Congress
There are non-alternative reports that the White House and the Republican Congressional leadership are planning for a vote next week on legislation to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Details as to what that legislation actually says are not yet available, but it’s likely that it will contain a cap on federal Medicaid…
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Kids and State Budgets Need the Stability and Predictably of CHIP During an Uncertain Time
As we watch the latest stalled efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and gut Medicaid, we couldn’t help but think about what’s in store for another key health program: the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). With no new funding available to states after September 30, 2017 (the end of the federal fiscal year),…
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What Should Congress Do to Extend CHIP?
In February I wrote a blog entitled “Congress Must Act Quickly on CHIP” in which I expressed concern that Congress would not act quickly to extend funding for this vital and popular program. Now, almost two months later there has been no noticeable Congressional movement and virtually no discussion about the Children’s Health Insurance Program…
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What’s at Stake if Essential Health Benefits are Scrapped? Pediatric Benefits, Protection from Lifetime Limits
As House leaders scramble to get enough votes to send the American Health Care Act to the Senate, there is a lot of horse-trading going on. None of it to the benefit of kids enrolled in Medicaid or private insurance. The most recent Affordable Care Act provision on the chopping block is the Essential Health…
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Health Proposal Breaks Long-standing Bipartisan Commitment to Children’s Health
With virtually no time to unpack the provisions in the Manager’s Amendment that was released late Monday night and no CBO score expected until just before the vote, it appears that the House is on the verge of voting to repeal not just the Affordable Care Act, but also break the long-standing bipartisan promise of…
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Eliminating Essential Health Benefits Will Shift Financial Risk Back to Consumers
Congress is debating the American Health Care Act, a plan to repeal and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Act does not make changes to the Essential Health Benefits (EHB), ten categories of coverage that all new plans in the individual and small group markets must include in their plans. But the…
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Follow the Money: CBO Shows House “Repeal and Replace” Bill is Really “Cap and Cut” Medicaid
On March 13 the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued its estimate of the House bill to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. The House bill does far more than simply “repeal and replace” the ACA Medicaid expansion for adults. It would end the federal government’s 50-year, open-ended commitment to all Medicaid populations — the elderly,…
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How the AHCA Yanks Welcome Mat Out From Under Children Eligible for Medicaid and CHIP
The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) coverage provisions did not target children’s eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP. It was aimed at closing the coverage gap for adults – both adults without dependent children, who were generally ineligible for Medicaid, and parents, whose pre-ACA Medicaid eligibility was well below the poverty level in many states. Yet, we…
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How the Wrong Medicaid Reforms Could Devastate Young People with Complex Medical Needs
By Sophia Jan, Ahaviah Glaser, Rebecca Kim of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Policy Lab Current proposals to simultaneously repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and reform the federal Medicaid program would be devastating to children and young adults with disabilities and complex medical needs. Even if the final ACA replacement plan continues to allow…
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Why “State Flexibility” Won’t Do the Trick to Implement Medicaid Cuts
There has always been a lot of overheated rhetoric about state flexibility in the Medicaid program, but at no point has it been more important to unpack that concept than now. With the House and Senate poised to act on a bill which caps the Medicaid program for the first time in its history, proponents…
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What Does House ACA Repeal Proposal Mean for Children and Families?
As the House of Representatives moves with rapid speed to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the public can finally get a glimpse of their plan – though the public still needs a lot more information about the proposal and the “intended” and “unintended” consequences it would have for children and families. The…
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ACA Repeal Would Also Impact Kids Who Get Health Coverage Through Parent’s Employer
We often talk about how Medicaid is the MVP for children’s coverage – and it is – covering 37 million children today in Medicaid directly plus over half of children whose coverage is paid for by CHIP, for a total of 42 million kids. But if you look at public and private sources of coverage,…
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House GOP Medicaid Provisions Would Cut Federal Medicaid Spending by $560 Billion Over Next Decade
By Edwin Park, CBPP The House Republican health plan would shift an estimated $560 billion in Medicaid costs to states over the next ten years, effectively ending the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion for 11 million people while also harming tens of millions of additional seniors, people with disabilities, and children and parents who rely on…
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7 Questions Congress Should Answer Before Messing with Medicaid
Ok, all you Schoolhouse Rock fans, let’s sing along: “I’m just a Bill. Yes, I’m only a Bill. And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill. Well, it’s a long, long journey to the Capital City It’s a long, long wait while I’m sitting in committee.” That was true in 1976, when Bill made his debut.…
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Top Five Ways ACA Repeal and Medicaid Financing Changes Would Harm our Youngest Children
Editor’s note: We at Say Ahhh! are getting a lot of traction around our “top 5s” on Medicaid cuts and the impact of ACA repeal and Medicaid financing changes on child welfare. So we thought we should continue the trend and focus on young children. We are grateful our colleagues at CLASP agreed to join…
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Nation’s Success in Covering Children is in Peril
House Republicans recently released an outline of their plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and today an earlier version of the bill they were drafting was leaked. While the leaked bill is likely an old draft, both of these documents confirm what I have suspected was coming — while repealing and replacing…
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Radically Restructuring Medicaid Would be Bad for Kids
While most press coverage has focused on repealing the Affordable Care Act and scaling back the Medicaid expansion for adults, a less well-known but extremely damaging effort under consideration by Congress would radically restructure Medicaid financing. Proposals would do this through a block grant or per capita cap designed to save money by limiting federal contributions. (Kaiser just put…
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How Restructuring Medicaid Could Affect Children
More than one-third of America’s children rely on Medicaid for their health care, and more than half of Medicaid recipients are children. Medicaid’s existing structure has helped states respond to every economic downturn, natural disaster, epidemic or innovative treatment since the program was enacted in 1965. As recently as last year, Congress put forth proposals…
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Congress Must Act Quickly on CHIP
As regular readers of SayAhhh! know, funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will expire on September 30, 2017. Medicaid and CHIP have worked together to bring the nation’s uninsurance rate for children down to a historic high of 95%. Whether the country will continue moving forward on this critical question is a key…
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Cutting Medicaid Would Hurt Public School’s Efforts to Improve Student Success
The School Superintendent’s Association just released a survey documenting the concerns that superintendents and other school leaders have about Congressional plans to cut Medicaid spending. CCF spoke with Sasha Pudelski, author of the report Cutting Medicaid: A Prescription to Hurt the Neediest Kids, about the impact Medicaid cuts would have on students and schools. Can…
