CHIP
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How Are States Addressing Mental Health Needs of Infants and Toddlers in Medicaid Policy? New 50-state Report
As lawmakers scramble to address the nation’s worsening mental health crisis among children, few of these efforts have focused on the unique developmental needs of children before they reach kindergarten. It’s hard to imagine an infant or toddler experiencing mental health challenges, but as ZERO TO THREE shows,10-16% of young children experience mental health conditions,…
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CMS Asks States and Stakeholders to Lean In and Help Respond to Mounting Concerns About Eligible Children, New Moms and Others Losing Medicaid During Unwinding
As outcomes data has emerged from states getting an early start on resuming Medicaid renewals, there are mounting concerns about eligible children, new moms, and others losing coverage due to procedural disenrollments. In response, CMS released additional information on the unwinding, including a letter from HHS Secretary Becerra to governors urging them to adopt additional…
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Medicaid Policies to Help Young Children Access Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Services: Results from a 50-State Survey
By: Sheila Smith, Maribel R. Granja, Elisabeth Wright Burak, Kay Johnson, and Daniel Ferguson; Representing the National Center for Children in Poverty, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, and Johnson Policy Consulting Full report available here. INTRODUCTION Young children covered by Medicaid are growing up in low-income households and are more likely to experience…
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It’s Here! An Introduction to the Much-Anticipated Updated School-Based Medicaid Services and Administrative Claiming Guide
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and last week’s news takes this month to heart with the release of the much-awaited Comprehensive Guide to Medicaid Services and Administrative Claiming by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in consultation with the US Department of Education (ED). The first comprehensive update in two decades, CMS’s…
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Arkansas Unwinding Numbers Show What’s at Stake for Very Young Children
Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) has sounded the alarm bells for more than a year warning that without strong state leadership and careful attention, millions of children, parents, disabled people and others eligible for Medicaid could be erroneously disenrolled for procedural reasons. Children are far more likely to lose Medicaid and CHIP…
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A Closer Look at CMS’s Proposed Rule to Improve Access to Care in Medicaid and CHIP
Editor’s Note: Since this post was published, CCF submitted formal comments on both the Medicaid Access and Managed Care proposed rules. The Biden Administration recently proposed two new rules on access to care in Medicaid and CHIP. The rules have long, formal titles: “Medicaid Program: Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services” and “Medicaid Program: Medicaid and…
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Biden Administration Proposes Two New Rules to Significantly Improve Access to Care for Consumers Enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP
Editor’s Note: Since this post was published, CCF submitted formal comments on both the Medicaid Access and Managed Care proposed rules. If you thought you saw fireworks last night, it could be in celebration of the Biden Administration posting two(!) proposed rules yesterday tackling access to care in Medicaid and CHIP. It will take some…
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Here’s a Good Idea – Some States Are Removing Barriers to Coverage by Dropping CHIP Premiums
In January 2020, 30 states charged premiums or enrollment fees to children in Medicaid or CHIP, which were suspended in 19 states during the public health emergency. Since then, six states have eliminated premiums or do not plan to resume them – California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, and North Carolina. New York also eliminated…
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State Medicaid and CHIP Options Can Help Address Maternal Health Crisis and Eliminate Racial Health Inequities
Two Say Ahh! blogs published during Black Maternal Health Week this April–one from Marquita Little Numan reflecting on her personal birth story and another by Tanesha Mondestin on the Black Mamas Matter Alliance policy agenda – underscored the need for significant policy change to address the ongoing maternal health crisis facing our country, where Black…
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State Opportunities to Leverage Medicaid and CHIP Coverage to Improve Maternal Health and Eliminate Racial Inequities
Introduction Medicaid and CHIP provide coverage for millions of pregnant people to access essential prenatal, birth-related, and postpartum care each year.[1] Policymakers are taking a fresh look at Medicaid and CHIP options to support better maternal health outcomes in response to the nation’s worsening maternal mortality crisis, the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v.…
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Children’s Marketplace Enrollment Increases Again, but Most Children Will Still be Eligible for Medicaid After Unwinding
When it comes to recent trends in children’s coverage, much attention has rightly focused on the significant child enrollment increases in Medicaid over the past few years due in large part to the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement. Although the Marketplaces cover far fewer children by comparison, child enrollment in Marketplace plans has increased substantially for…
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New Brief: An Introduction to Managed Care in CHIP
Some three million kids in states with separate CHIP programs are enrolled in Managed Care Organizations (MCOs). Who are those MCOs, and how are they performing for those children? Unlike Medicaid, there’s no publicly available national database that answers those questions. Our new brief attempts to fill that gap. We utilized a variety of methods,…
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An Introduction to Managed Care in CHIP
DOWNLOAD THIS REPORT Introduction The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was enacted 25 years ago. [1] Today it provides coverage for children whose family incomes are too high to allow them to qualify for Medicaid but too low to enable them to afford private health insurance coverage. Together, CHIP and Medicaid insure over half [2]…
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Child Medicaid/CHIP Coverage by School District Now Available
[Editor’s Note: These maps were updated on August 3, 2023. See here for updated data.] As we’ve written before, Medicaid is an essential tools for supporting schools in improving children’s health, especially mental health. Research has shown that Medicaid coverage can help boost children’s school readiness and reduce absenteeism, as well as improve high school…
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KFF-CCF Survey Provides Snapshot of Medicaid and CHIP at Watershed Moment as States Prepare for Unwinding Continuous Enrollment
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and Georgetown University Center for Children and Families annual 50-State Survey on Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility and Enrollment was released today. The survey focuses on state policies impacting children, pregnant individuals, parents, and other non-elderly adults whose Medicaid eligibility is based on financial eligibility rules. This year’s survey provides a…
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Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, and Renewal Policies as States Prepare for the Unwinding of the Pandemic-Era Continuous Enrollment Provision
Executive Summary In the third year of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), Medicaid enrollment continued to increase albeit at a slower pace than in the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic. Since March 2020, states have provided continuous enrollment in Medicaid in exchange for enhanced federal funding. This continuous enrollment provision and enhanced…
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Comments on Medicaid/CHIP Provisions in Proposed Rule on Prior Authorization
The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families submitted the following comments to CMS regarding the proposed regulation on prior authorization and interoperability. Prior Authorization Comments
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Medicaid and CHIP Drug Rebate Proposals in the Biden Administration’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget
Under the highly effective Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (MDRP), drug manufacturers must provide substantial rebates to the federal government and states as a condition of having their drugs covered by Medicaid. For brand-name drugs, the rebates apply to both fee-for-service and Medicaid managed care and consist of two mandatory components. First, under a basic rebate,…
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Hundreds of Thousands of Children Could Lose Coverage in Florida Alone as U.S. Approaches High Stakes Medicaid Unwinding
As readers of SayAhhh! know, Congress has given the green light to states to begin checking eligibility for all Medicaid beneficiaries who have been protected from disenrollment by federal law since the Families First Covid Relief Act passed in March 2020. Terminations can begin on April 1, 2023; states have a year to complete the…
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Unwinding Wednesday #15: Congress Proposes to End Medicaid Continuous Coverage Protection in Early 2023; Adds Transparency and Accountability Requirements
[Editor’s Note: The bipartisan spending plan was approved by Congress and signed into law by the President on December 29, 2022. Read CCF’s brief to learn more.] The text of the omnibus spending plan released by Congress would allow states to resume Medicaid disenrollments after the end of the first quarter…
