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. […]
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 […]
As Say Ahh readers know, there have been bursts of Section 1115 demonstration activity since the start of the year. April was no different, bringing another flurry of actions from CMS. This time, however, there were some new demonstration approvals that promote coverage, albeit in a more limited way than we would have liked to […]
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 […]
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 […]
Last month, CMS began taking steps to get rid of Medicaid section 1115 work requirement waivers as my colleague Joan Alker has written about. The Biden Administration sent letters to states with approved work requirements that “preliminarily” disapproved the policy on the basis of the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty of its aftermath on health and […]
