CHIP
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MACPAC Testimony
Testimony by Tricia Brooks of Georgetown University Center for Children and Families before the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (November, 2013) In 1997, CHIP emerged from the ashes of the prior attempt at health reform. At the time, 5 million uninsured children were eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid, and despite the previous…
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Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum Joins CCF to Champion Children’s Coverage
By Priscilla Huang, Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum I had the opportunity to join health policy experts from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities for a panel discussion today hosted by New American Media, discussing encouraging findings in CCF’s latest report on the status of…
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MACPAC Considers Future of CHIP
At its November meeting, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) focused much time on CHIP: examining the diversity among CHIP programs, considering the implications of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on CHIP, and exploring what the future might hold for CHIP. As a former CHIP director and someone who is still involved…
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Getting into Gear for 2014: Shifting New Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment Policies into Drive
On January 1, 2014, many key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will start to go into effect, including the expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults and the launch of new Medicaid eligibility and enrollment processes, which are designed to move toward a coordinated enrollment system across health coverage programs, including Medicaid, CHIP, and…
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CHIP’S Start: Early Lessons for Health Reform
By Matt Broaddus, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities The Administration is expected to issue estimates this week of enrollment since October 1 in health reform’s Medicaid expansion and its new health insurance marketplaces — and some media have already reported that the numbers did not meet Administration expectations. But, as we’ve learned by examining the early experience with…
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The Administration’s New Welcome Mat for Immigrants: “It’s Safe to Apply”
By Dinah Wiley In previous blogs, I’ve described the reluctance of immigrant families to enroll in Medicaid, CHIP, or marketplace insurance and subsidies. The chief worry for a mixed-status household is whether a health insurance application will trigger immigration enforcement, resulting in “removal” (deportation) of a member of the family who would be separated from…
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What CHIP Implementation Can Teach Us
By Gene Lewit The “glitches”, “problems”, “failures” of the federal health insurance marketplace and the HealthCare.gov website are headline news and a source of frustration, disappointment and embarrassment to many. Yet, research that I have been doing for First Focus based on experience with the roll out of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beginning…
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CMS Releases Guidance on Ensuring a Smooth Transition for ‘Stairstep’ Kids
By Wesley Prater As I discussed in a previous blog, Section 2001(a)(5)(B) of the Affordable Care Act aligns the minimum eligibility level for children across all age groups. Thus, some states will need to transition children from coverage in their separate CHIP programs to coverage in Medicaid on January 1, 2014. The provision is intended…
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House Passed CR Threatens Progress Covering Kids
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a short-term funding bill to keep the government open for business while the House, Senate and White House attempt to find a way forward on the FY2014 Continuing Resolution. Yes, FY2014 begins October 1 so there’s not much time to spare on enactment of this legislation. The House…
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Tech Tuesday: Phase I Medicaid and CHIP Performance Indicators Released (Part I)
The long-awaited performance metrics for Medicaid and CHIP were released last week. And even though I’m a self-admitted data junkie, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that CMS’ new approach to performance reporting is momentous. Why? CMS aims to create a system of data collection and reporting that is consistent across the states…
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What Does the Future Hold for CHIP?
It’s hard to recall in the new age of Obamacare, but it wasn’t long ago that we were toasting an accomplishment that seemed unlikely just a short time before: the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA). Gone (for the most part) were the concerns about states running out of funds and wait-listing children,…
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CMS Issues More Guidance on Stairstep Kids
By Wesley Prater As Tricia Brooks highlighted in her previous blog, CMS recently released a set of FAQs to provide more guidance on telephonic applications, MAGI-based eligibility, Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, and the 75/25 Federal matching rate. The FAQs included more guidance about the transition of children ages 6-18 up to 133% of the FPL…
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Nevada and West Virginia Latest to Remove CHIP Waiting Periods
As we have blogged before we were hoping that CMS was going to prohibit states operating separate state CHIP program from imposing waiting periods for children. But they didn’t, and the choice continues to fall squarely in the state’s purview. Last week we learned that two more states, Nevada and West Virginia, are now moving…
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Tech Tuesday: HHS Provides Guiding Principles for Telephone Applications
“No wrong door,” a phrase coined to explain access to all the insurance affordability programs (Medicaid, CHIP and subsidized coverage through a Health Insurance Marketplace) through a single application process, is also often used to describe the different paths to enrollment. Beginning October 1, 2013, states are expected to allow individuals to apply online, over…
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How Will Aligning Eligibility for Children in Medicaid Make Better Sense for Families and States?
By Wesley Prater The Affordable Care Act is most widely recognized for its expansion of affordable coverage to low-income parents and adults; however, a lesser-known feature of the ACA also helps children by aligning Medicaid coverage across families at 133% of the federal poverty level (FPL). Today, states must cover children under the age of…
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Aligning Eligibility for Children: Moving the Stairstep Kids to Medicaid
A feature of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that has not received a lot of attention requires that Medicaid cover children with incomes up to 133 percent FPL as of January 2014. Today, there are “stairstep” eligibility rules for children. States must cover children under the age of six in families with income of at…
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There’s a Hole in Our Bucket: Addressing Children’s Health Insurance Churn
By Ashley Storms, New England Alliance for Children’s Health Pursuing health coverage for all children can sometimes feel like pouring water into a leaky bucket. Even when outreach and enrollment efforts are strong, a substantial portion of children will lose their insurance at least once. Unstable insurance coverage, known as “churn,” is inefficient and keeps…
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CHIP Lock Outs May Leave Kids Without Premium Tax Credits, Too
By Joe Touschner As Tricia Brooks wrote last week, new rules set limits on how states handle lock out periods for children enrolled in CHIP. Several states impose a lock out period—a length of time when a child may not receive CHIP coverage—when families fail to pay CHIP premiums. The new rules limit lock out…
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Children’s Medicaid/CHIP Crowd-Out Estimates by State
A new report by researchers at The Ohio State University College of Public Health finds that wealthier families who are eligible for public insurance are less likely to switch from private to public coverage than families earning less. The authors use ACS data and a regression discontinuity approach to obtain state estimates on how many…
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Outreach Grant Will Help California Advocates Connect More Kids to Coverage
By Suzie Shupe and Edgar Aguilar, California Coverage and Health Initiatives California is the most populous state in the union and home to more than 13 percent of the nation’s uninsured children. Since coverage is essential for making sure children reach their full potential, California Coverage & Health Initiatives (CCHI) is honored to receive a…