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 […]
The Biden Administration has a long list of bad Medicaid policies to unwind. As chronicled in Episode I, the groundwork for the unwinding was laid in a Presidential Executive Order, “Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act,” issued on January 28. Among other things, the E.O. directs the Secretary of HHS to review section 1115 demonstrations and […]
A few days before departing, former CMS Administrator and Trump appointee Seema Verma handed out ten-year Medicaid demonstration waiver extensions for political allies, with Texas and Florida,[1] approvals being granted late Friday, January 15th. The Friday before (Jan. 8th) CMS had approved the infamous and dangerous Tennessee waiver, which my colleagues explained beautifully here. Ten […]
