CHIP
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Medicaid Critics Misconstrue Payment Error Rate Measurement to Undermine Popular Program
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) recently released new numbers on estimated improper payment rates in Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP. It will take some time to fully digest the 300+ page financial report and its findings, but in the meantime, it may be worth a quick refresher on the Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM)…
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The CMS Administrator Talks to Medicaid Directors About Humility in Government
Two years ago, CMS Administrator Seema Verma gave a major policy address to the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) at which she outlined her agenda for Medicaid. She invoked Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon Johnson on the moral imperative of meeting the needs of the poor. She promised to give states more flexibility by, among other…
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Renewing Bipartisan Commitment to Help Uninsured Children Should be Top Priority
Today we released our ninth annual report that tracks children’s health insurance coverage at the state and national level. This report looks at two-year trends from 2016 to 2018 analyzing American Community Survey data from the Census Bureau. We believe this is the first national report to look at this two-year time period, a time…
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The Number of Uninsured Children is on the Rise
[Editor’s Note: For the most recent report on children’s health coverage, click here.] Introduction For many years, the nation has been on a positive trajectory reducing the number and rate of uninsured children. Having health insurance is important for children as they are more likely to receive needed services, have better educational outcomes, and their…
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Improving State Administration and Procedures to Regain Medicaid/CHIP Enrollment Momentum for Kids
See our full blog series on evidence-based policies available to policymakers to prevent more eligible children from losing health coverage. 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…
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Maximizing the Use of Technology to Regain Enrollment Momentum in Medicaid
See our full blog series on evidence-based policies available to policymakers to prevent more eligible children from losing health coverage. 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 we have continued to track the growing…
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Here are the Facts About Anti-Immigrant Policies Pushed by the Administration and Their Impact on Children and Families
It’s hard to keep up these days on the policies pushed by this Administration that unfairly target immigrant families, but it’s important to be aware and to hold those who are in power accountable. Over the last two years, we’ve tracked harmful policies such as “zero tolerance” at the border and changes to public charge…
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Most Recent CMS Data Show Child Enrollment in Medicaid/CHIP Dips Again in June 2019
In June, another 62,000 children lost Medicaid or CHIP coverage, bringing the 18-month enrollment decline (between December 2017 and June 2019) to more than 1.1 million children nationwide or an overall 3 percent drop. Based on CMS or state enrollment data, 37 states have experienced declines of enrollment ranging from less than 1 percent to…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Boosting Outreach and Consumer Assistance to Regain Enrollment Momentum
See our full blog series on evidence-based policies available to policymakers to prevent more eligible children from losing health coverage. 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…
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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…
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Policy Options: How to Regain Momentum on Medicaid/CHIP Enrollment
See our full blog series on evidence-based policies available to policymakers to prevent more eligible children from losing health coverage. 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…
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“Intentional Program Violations” (IPVs): Weaponizing Program Integrity to Undercut Medicaid Expansion
Last November, Utah voters passed an initiative calling for Medicaid expansion. Since then, Utah policymakers have been fighting a convoluted battle against covering low-income adults that has been chronicled by my colleagues Joan Alker, Adam Searing, and Kelly Whitener. The latest chapter in this saga is Utah’s “per capita cap” waiver, which is now before…
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How Can Policymakers Stop More Children From Losing Health Coverage and Regain Enrollment Momentum?
See our full blog series on evidence-based policies available to policymakers to prevent more eligible children from losing health coverage. Sometimes you just hate to be right. The release of topline Census data last week confirmed our fears that the most recent health insurance data would reveal that we lost ground in providing health coverage…
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The Future of Coverage for American Indian and Alaska Native Children
As you may possibly have heard by now, the uninsured rate for children is heading in the wrong direction. It increased from 5 percent in 2017 to 5.5 percent in 2018, which translates into an additional 425,000 uninsured children. Among the children whom this trend likely affects are American Indians and Alaska Natives, but we…
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Promoting Health Coverage of American Indian and Alaska Native Children
Introduction In 2017 there were approximately 774,000 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children under age 19, comprising about 1 percent of the 78.1 million children nationwide. AI/AN children are disproportionately poor, experience major health disparities, and are more than twice as likely to be uninsured as U.S. children overall. It goes without saying that…
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Why are There More Uninsured Kids and What Can We Do About It?
Yesterday the Census Bureau released one of its annual surveys (the Current Population Survey or CPS), which looks at health insurance status. This year, in an unusual move, the Bureau actually released a mini special report focusing on children. While we await more data at the end of the month from the American Community Survey…
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US Census: 425,000 More Uninsured Children
Statement by Joan Alker, in response to Current Population Survey data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today showing that the number of uninsured children increased by 425,000, and the uninsured rate increased by 0.6 percentage points to 5.5 percent in 2018. “Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today confirm our worst fears. An…
