CHIP
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How Medicaid Can Help Schools Sustain Support for Students’ Mental Health
Among the Covid-19 pandemic’s most pernicious aftershocks is its impact on student mental health. Isolated at home, disconnected from friends, and suffering trauma from family members’ job losses or Covid-related deaths, students are experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression. About 44 percent of adolescents experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the pandemic compared to…
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More Children Enrolled in ACA Marketplace Coverage in 2022, But Marketplaces Still Remain Modest Source of Health Coverage for Children
Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) currently cover more than 40 million children. In comparison, relatively few children rely on the marketplaces for their health coverage. But new data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) show 1.3 million children were enrolled in marketplace plans during the 2022 Marketplace Open…
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Call Center Statistics: The Canary in the Coalmine When the Medicaid Continuous Coverage Protection is Lifted
As consumers, we all know how frustrating it can be to try to get help for some issue only to find that there is a lengthy wait just to talk to someone. Now consider how much more frustrating it would be if you work in a frontline position in service, retail, or hospitality industries and…
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At Long Last, the Biden Administration Takes Step to Fix the Family Glitch
Back in 2014, I wrote about the importance of fixing the family glitch in this Health Affairs policy brief, which I, along with other health policy wonks, thought could be fixed administratively through rule-making. At last, the Biden administration has announced steps to do so with a White House event featuring former President Obama, whose…
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Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility and Enrollment Policies as of January 2022: Findings from a 50-State Survey
Executive Summary Enrollment in Medicaid has grown significantly during the coronavirus pandemic. Provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) require states to provide continuous coverage for Medicaid enrollees until the end of the month in which the public health emergency (PHE) ends in order to receive enhanced federal funding. Continuous enrollment has helped to preserve…
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Congressional Committees Focus on Mental Health, Announce Bipartisan Efforts
Mental health was in the spotlight this month on Capitol Hill with four Congressional committees holding hearings on the subject during the first three weeks of February and some committees formally announcing plans to pursue bipartisan legislation. As we’ve discussed on Say Ahhh!, the pandemic has taken an unprecedented toll on the mental health of…
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What Can States Do to Reduce Risk of Children Unfairly Losing Health Insurance
In part 1 of this blog series, my colleague and report co-author Joan Alker, explained the dire consequences if states don’t put in the time and effort to get renewals right when the Medicaid continuous coverage provision is lifted. This blog will focus on how we developed risk assessments for children in all 50 states…
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Governors Should Make the Protection of Children and Families from Health Coverage Loss a Top Priority
A unique and unprecedented set of public policy circumstances create a grave risk for the stability of health coverage in the year ahead for millions of children and families. First, some background. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress and the Trump Administration enacted a law in 2020, known as the Families First Coronavirus Relief…
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Millions of Children May Lose Medicaid: What Can Be Done to Help Prevent Them From Becoming Uninsured?
Introduction As of June 2021, over 40 million children were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP for their health insurance — the vast majority in Medicaid.[note]Georgetown University Center for Children and Families analysis of February 2020-June 2021 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services State Medicaid and CHIP Applications, Eligibility Determinations, and Enrollment Data, available at https://data.medicaid.gov/dataset/6165f45b-ca93-5bb5-9d06-db29c692a360.…
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States Should Continue Medicaid and CHIP Improvements Achieved Through State Disaster SPAs Beyond PHE
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, states have been utilizing Medicaid and CHIP disaster state plan amendments (SPAs) for temporary, additional flexibilities to respond to the challenges resulting from the pandemic. As the administration considers when to end the federally declared Public Health Emergency (PHE), states and stakeholders should think about how to continue…
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Biden Administration and States Should Better Ensure Medicaid and CHIP Beneficiaries Have Access to At-Home COVID-19 Rapid Tests
As the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) recently explained, state Medicaid and CHIP programs are required to cover at-home COVID-19 rapid tests, without cost-sharing, until at least one year after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. However, there seems to be substantial variation across state Medicaid and CHIP programs in how they actually cover…
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CMS Commits $49 Million to Connect Kids, Parents, and Pregnant People to Coverage
A wide range of organizations, including state/local governments, tribal entities, safety net providers, non-profits, schools, and others, may apply for up to $1.5 million over three years to connect eligible people to Medicaid or CHIP under a new CMS funding opportunity. A total of $49.4 million in funding will build on efforts initiated by the…
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Surgeon General Issues Advisory on Youth Mental Health Crisis, Highlights Importance of Medicaid and CHIP Coverage and Calls for More Action
This week, the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an Advisory highlighting the urgent need to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis. As discussed here on Say Ahhh!, the pandemic has taken an unprecedented toll on the mental health and wellbeing of children, exacerbating long standing gaps in mental health care for children…
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CMS Issues Guidance on New Postpartum Coverage State Option in Medicaid and CHIP
Today CMS released highly anticipated guidance to states implementing the new Medicaid and CHIP state plan option to provide 12 months of extended postpartum coverage to pregnant individuals enrolled in Medicaid beginning April 1, 2022. Created by the American Rescue Plan Act passed earlier this year, this policy option has been widely embraced by states…
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Build Back Better Act: Health Coverage Provisions Explained
On November 19, 2021, the House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act, the budget reconciliation bill, with the Senate expected to consider the legislation in coming weeks. The Build Back Better Act includes numerous provisions that would dramatically strengthen and expand both public and private health insurance coverage. Some of the new provisions…
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Build Back Better Legislation: What Does It Mean for Children’s Health Coverage and Care?
There has been very little public discussion of the provisions to advance child health in the Build Back Better (BBB) bill. Big ticket items like whether a Medicare dental, hearing, and vision benefit will be added, disputes over drug pricing reforms, and of course, filling the coverage gap in the non-expansion states, have taken up…
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HHS Secretary Becerra Approves New Jersey Waiver Request to Extend Postpartum Medicaid Coverage
New mothers covered by Medicaid and CHIP in New Jersey will now be able to stay enrolled for one year after the end of pregnancy under a Medicaid Section 1115 waiver approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. The state will extend postpartum coverage for individuals from the state’s current pregnancy coverage cutoff at…
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Covid-19 Exposed Many Inequities for Latino Families, Adopting Continuous Eligibility Would Repair Cracks and Protect More Latino Kids from Losing Medicaid/CHIP
COVID-19 underscores the need for universal access to health care and exposes the coverage inequities in our system today. Latino children are more likely to be uninsured than their non-Latino peers, and this coverage gap widened in recent years. A new report from CCF and UnidosUS shows that because Latino children are more likely to be…
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Advancing Health Equity for Children and Adults with a Critical Tool: Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Continuous Coverage
Key Takeaways: Latino children disproportionately receive their health coverage through Medicaid or CHIP. Together, these programs provide coverage for more than one-third (37.6 percent) of all children, but more than half (52.1 percent) of Latino children. Adopting Medicaid and CHIP policies that remove barriers to participation and reduce gaps in coverage would narrow inequities in…
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Research Update: Medicaid/CHIP Are Critical Resources for Children with Special Health Care Needs
Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) together provide coverage for nearly half of the 13.9 million children with special health care needs, who have or are at higher risk of developing chronic conditions and have greater health care needs than children overall. As Congress considers additional funding to improve and expand Medicaid home…
