As a practical matter, I think accepting 100% federal funding to extend Medicaid coverage to adults and getting that coverage up and running is easier than setting up a state-based marketplace, implementing the new insurance reforms and tax credits etc etc. States obviously already have Medicaid programs up and running – in many cases with […]
By David Blatt, Oklahoma Policy Institute Last Friday, Oklahoma received formal word that the federal government has agreed to extend Insure Oklahoma, the state’s publicly-funded premium assistance health insurance program, until the end of 2014, subject to certain program changes. This one-year extension means that individuals and businesses that participate in the program will not […]
States that have not yet decided to expand Medicaid to low income adults and parents are considering their options, and some are hoping to experiment with charging monthly premiums. New data from Wisconsin provides a helpful reality check. Slightly more than two-fifths of the lowest income adults paying premiums—who did not exit BadgerCare or Transitional […]
So I just skimmed through the Arkansas Section 1115 Medicaid waiver application,which was submitted to the federal government a few days ago. This proposal is unique and uses Medicaid funding to buy coverage in the new marketplace through a premium assistance arrangement. I AM happy that Arkansas legislators and the Governor were sensible enough to […]
The latest GAO analysis of Medicaid Section 1115 waivers finds that the federal government does not always have a consistent policy of ensuring that the waivers are “budget neutral” to the federal government. GAO took a look at 10 Medicaid waivers approved in recent years to see whether there was a consistent policy that ensured […]
As my diligent colleague Tricia Brooks reported, CMS issued an important final rule on July 5th that we have been expecting for some time. While the rule did not finalize a number of issues, it did include slightly revised rules for states interested in pursuing premium assistance in the individual market – sort of a hot […]
