Federal Government Accepting Public Comments on Tennessee Medicaid Block Grant Waiver Restricting Access to Prescription Drugs

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have reopened a 30-day public comment period for Tennessee’s controversial section 1115 waiver, which the Trump Administration approved in January 2021.  While the waiver’s radical centerpiece converting the state’s federal Medicaid funding into a block grant has rightfully received the most attention, the waiver would also allow […]

Edwin Park

Biden Administration Takes Further Action to End Barriers to Medicaid Coverage

Nearly six months ago, the Biden Administration initiated efforts to withdraw work reporting requirements in the eleven states with approved section 1115 Medicaid waivers. Now, the resolution many have been waiting for is almost entirely complete. On August 10, Ohio, South Carolina, and Utah all received letters from CMS formally withdrawing their work requirement waivers. […]

Allexa Gardner, Ryan Lee

More States Moving to Extend Medicaid Postpartum Coverage Option Under ARP, Why Are Georgia and Missouri Limiting Its Reach?

Extending postpartum coverage continues to be a hot topic in state legislatures, in Congress, and in the Biden Administration. As my colleagues shared in a blog last week, CMS recently approved Section 1115 demonstration waivers in Georgia and Missouri that extend postpartum benefits to at least some pregnant people. While a step forward, the approvals […]

Maggie Clark, Allexa Gardner

Medicaid Wars: Litigation Risk (Episode III)

It turns out that unwinding illegal Medicaid policies is complicated.  There’s this thing called “litigation risk”.  Executive Branch agencies have to make reasoned decisions and stay within their statutory guardrails; if they don’t the federal courts may rein them in.  As it happens, litigation risk goes both ways. The Unwinding began with the issuance of […]

Andy Schneider

Advancing Postpartum Coverage in Medicaid: Waiver or SPA?

The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act has many new opportunities and important provisions that we are still absorbing and unpacking. One key change, as readers of SayAhh! know, is the new state option to provide 12 months of postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage to women after the end of their pregnancy, well beyond the […]

Joan Alker
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