CHIP
is a federal-state partnership program that provides health coverage options for children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford marketplace or other coverage. To learn more about how CHIP serves children in each state, read these https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2017/09/14/ccf-aap-chip-state-snapshots/.
GAO To CMS: Set Goals, Measure Progress on EPSDT (Do Better)
Another day, another area where CMS could be spending its valuable resources to fulfill Medicaid’s mission to provide health care to low-income Americans, including and especially children. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s watchdog for federal agencies, has some ideas. Regular Say Ahhh! readers know the great potential of Medicaid’s pediatric benefit, called EPSDT. Medicaid […]
Medicaid Expansion Debate: A New Phase
Across the states, moving towards an election year typically means a retreat from policymakers wanting to take on major issues of interest to their constituents for fear of offending one side or the other. In an era of increasing “constant campaigns” rather than actual governance, this can mean even more legislative paralysis. But health care […]
Strategies to Address Alarming Decline in Children’s Health Coverage
In this blog series, CCF Executive Director and Research Professor Joan Alker previews her ninth annual report on children’s health coverage and examines the alarming increase in the number of uninsured children after years of bipartisan success in reducing the child uninsured rate. Research Professor Tricia Brooks — a policy expert and former state CHIP […]
Boosting Outreach and Consumer Assistance to Regain Enrollment Momentum
As Say Ahhh! readers know, in May, we released a comprehensive report showing that child enrollment dropped by nearly 1 million children in 38 states in 2018 and have continued to track the growing enrollment decline in Medicaid and CHIP. Data recently released by the U.S Census Bureau underscores the need to for policymakers to […]
Tennessee Medicaid “Block Grant” Proposal: Imagination Gone Wild
The Tennessee Medicaid agency has posted a proposal to convert a portion of its federal funding to a “block grant.” The proposal, which responds to a directive from the Tennessee State Legislature, takes the form of an amendment to the state’s current section 1115 demonstration, which expires at the end of June 2021. The state […]
Policy Options: How to Regain Momentum on Medicaid/CHIP Enrollment
As Say Ahhh! readers know, we began reporting on the precipitous drop in Medicaid and CHIP enrollment earlier this year after child enrollment had declined by more than half a million kids, which has now grown to more one million fewer children. Low-income children historically lack access to affordable private insurance, and there was scant […]