Waivers
Section 1115 of the Social Security Act establishes authority for the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to waive certain provisions of the Medicaid and CHIP statutes for a state to establish an “experimental, pilot or demonstration” project that promotes the objectives of the program. Such demonstrations are intended to test and learn about new approaches to program design and administration. States have obtained Section 1115 waivers that make broad changes in Medicaid eligibility, benefits, cost sharing, and delivery and payment of care.
Indiana’s Own Medicaid Waiver Evaluation Shows Evidence of Coverage Losses
Indiana’s Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) demonstration, which has been approved in its current form since January 2015, has its extension application up for federal comment. If approved as is, the demonstration would be allowed to continue ten for years! The current HIP demonstration includes work requirements, a tiered benefit structure based on payment of monthly […]
Florida House Bill Targeting Parents on Medicaid Would Cause Huge Coverage Losses
Florida’s legislature is at it again, despite a recent strong Appeals Court ruling that Medicaid work requirements are not permitted by the statute. A bill to impose the harshest Medicaid work reporting requirements in the country on very poor parents – mostly women – is moving through Florida’s House of Representatives. An identical bill passed […]
HIDING THE BALL: The Trump Administration’s Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver Policy has Entered a New and Dangerous Phase
Section 1115 Medicaid waivers have been the tool of choice for the Trump Administration and CMS Administrator Verma’s efforts to mold Medicaid to their wishes since Congress failed to do so in 2017. Unfortunately, their wishes include allowing states to erect barriers to coverage (such as work requirements, raising costs for beneficiaries) and a recent […]
Appeals Court Strikes Decisively at the Heart of Administrator Verma’s Medicaid Agenda
In a decision which warmed my heart on a cold Valentine’s Day here in Washington, the federal Court of Appeals issued an unanimous opinion striking down the Arkansas work requirements waiver. In doing so, it upheld district court Judge Boasberg’s decision vacating the Arkansas’ Section 1115 waiver (including most famously Medicaid work requirements) because it […]
Statement by Joan Alker on Medicaid Block Grant/Per Capita Cap Guidance
Following is a statement by Georgetown University Center for Children and Families Executive Director Joan Alker regarding the Trump Administration’s Medicaid block grant/per capita cap guidance announcement: “The misguided, unlawful guidance issued by CMS today encourages states to gamble with the health and well-being of their residents and their budgets by trading in their guarantee […]
South Carolina Becomes First State to Impose Harmful Work Requirements Primarily on Poor Parents
I had held out a little sliver of hope that the Trump Administration would not cross this line but today those hopes were extinguished when CMS Administrator Verma traveled to South Carolina to personally deliver the news to South Carolina Governor McMaster that his state would be the first in the nation to apply a […]