A unique and unprecedented set of public policy circumstances create a grave risk for the stability of health coverage in the year ahead for millions of children and families. First, some background. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress and the Trump Administration enacted a law in 2020, known as the Families First Coronavirus Relief […]
Introduction As of June 2021, over 40 million children were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP for their health insurance — the vast majority in Medicaid. From the month prior to the pandemic in February 2020, through June 2021, children’s enrollment increased by 11 percent. Now, about half of the nation’s children are covered by Medicaid […]
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, states have been utilizing Medicaid and CHIP disaster state plan amendments (SPAs) for temporary, additional flexibilities to respond to the challenges resulting from the pandemic. As the administration considers when to end the federally declared Public Health Emergency (PHE), states and stakeholders should think about how to continue […]
[Editor’s Note: Read the latest on the public health emergency Medicaid continuous coverage protection here.] Earlier today, HHS Secretary Becerra renewed the COVID-related public health emergency (PHE). The latest extension will expire on April 16, 2022. By law, public health emergencies are declared in 90-day increments. The current PHE ends January 16, 2022, so a 90-day […]
The lifting of the continuous enrollment requirement associated with the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) is inevitable, whether it be after the PHE ends or on April 1, 2022 as proposed in the Build Back Better (BBB) Act passed by the House. Regardless of what happens, millions of enrollees are likely to be disenrolled from […]
While we were all unwinding from our Thanksgiving celebrations, CMS was busy putting out two new tools to assist state Medicaid eligibility and enrollment operations. The first is focused on preparing for the return to normal operations after the COVID-related continuous enrollment requirement is lifted while the second is a refresher on best practices and […]
