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Emerging Issues

  • Strategies to Address Alarming Decline in Children’s Health Coverage

    CCFadmin

    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…

  • House Committee to Consider Expanding Health Savings Account Tax Breaks for High Income

    Edwin Park

    Today, July 11, the full House Ways and Means Committee will begin consideration of multiple health-related tax bills, many of which would expand tax breaks for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). These HSA bills would primarily benefit those with high incomes, rather than make health coverage more affordable for low- and moderate-income children and families. Health…

  • Americans Love Families. American Policies Don’t.

    News Article

    New York Times By: Emily Badger and Claire Cain Miller Politicians are united in their love for families. The very word — “families” — was among those said most often by Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton in campaign speeches. Democrats and Republicans have platforms for middle-class families, working families, military families. And candidates in need…

  • Critics Ask: What’s The Financial Fallout If Foxconn Fails To Live Up To ‘The Hype’?

    News Article

    The Cap Times By Lisa Speckhard Pasque Since the announcement that Taiwan LCD manufacturer Foxconn will build a factory in Wisconsin, the news has been full of numbers: the potential number of jobs created, the billions Foxconn will invest and the billions in tax incentives. … Jon Peacock, director of the Wisconsin Budget Project, appeared…

  • Drug Puts A $750,000 ‘Price Tag On Life’

    News Article

    NPR Shots By Julie Appleby Jana Gundy and Amanda Chaffin, who live within two hours of each other in Oklahoma, each have a child with the same devastating disease. The genetic condition, spinal muscular atrophy, robs its sufferers of muscle strength, affecting their ability to sit, stand or even breathe. … With any costly new…

  • Senators’ ACA Replacement Won’t Likely Give States, Patients the Choices They Seek

    Guest

    By Sarah Lueck, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Senators Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins say their new proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would allow people who like the coverage they have to keep it. But now that we have more details about the proposal, it’s hard to see how that could…

  • New Report from Texas: Thousands of Young Kids with Disabilities Excluded from Early Intervention Amid State Cuts

    Guest

    By Rebecca Hornbach and Stephanie Rubin, Texans Care for Children As the President-elect and Congress consider significant changes to the way the federal government works with states to support children and families, and our state lawmakers here in Texas prepare for a legislative session with this new administration in Washington, they should consider our recent…

  • Top Five Threats to Children and Families Posed by a Medicaid Block Grant

    Elisabeth Wright Burak

    Many questions remain about what the new administration and Congress have in store for vulnerable children and families. Of course, the president-elect and congressional leaders have indicated repeal of the ACA will be a top priority early next year and, among other things, would end the Medicaid expansion and children’s coverage protections. But what other…

  • What Do Election Results Mean for Child and Family Coverage, Medicaid and CHIP?

    Joan Alker

    Last night’s surprise election results raise many, many questions about what will happen next year to the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and CHIP. There is a long road ahead but let’s start by taking stock of a few things we know. As readers of SayAhhh! know, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is running out…

  • Drafting New Medicaid Policy Wonks at the 2016 Alliance for Early Success Partner Summit

    Karina Wagnerman

    Last month, Elisabeth Wright Burak and I travelled to Arizona to take part in our first Alliance for Early Success partner summit. The Alliance for Early Success is a “catalyst for bringing state, national and funding partners together to improve state policies for children, starting at birth and continuing through age eight, with a priority…

  • A Tale of Two States: Children’s Uninsurance Rates in Texas and California

    Alisa Chester

    This week, we released our sixth annual report on children’s health coverage rates across the country. Overall, we found that the country is making incredible progress in reducing rates of uninsurance with the vast majority of states (41 states) experiencing a significant decline in uninsurance rates. The two states with the largest population of uninsured…

  • Pediatricians Lead Charge to Build a Healthier Future for America’s Children

    Cathy Hope

    Hats off to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for its efforts to create a healthier, happier, safer future for America’s children. At a panel discussion this week moderated by Dr. Richard Besser of ABC News, AAP leaders unveiled the “Blueprint for Children: How the Next President Can Build a Foundation for a Healthy Future.”…

  • Future of Children’s Health Coverage Series Brief #2: Rethinking Pediatric Dental Coverage

    Joan Alker

    By Colin Reusch, Children’s Dental Health Project and Joan Alker, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families Last month, a U.S. Senator called children’s dental health “a huge issue people simply don’t think about very often.” Here at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families and the Children’s Dental Health Project, we think it is time to…

  • Fulfilling the Promise of Children’s Dental Coverage

    Joan Alker

    By Colin Reusch, Senior Policy Analyst with the Children’s Dental Health Project, and Joan Alker, Executive Director of the Center for Children and Families Introduction Fulfilling the Promise of Children’s Dental Coverage is the second brief in our Future of Children’s Health Coverage series. The brief, coauthored by Colin Reusch with the Children’s Dental Health Project,…

  • The Future of Children’s Health Coverage

    CCFadmin

    (Updated August 2021) The Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program have made historic progress in reducing the child uninsured rate. Yet some families continue to have difficulty affording coverage and getting their children the care they need. In June of 2016, the Center for Children and Families launched a series of…

  • CCF Releases First in Series of Briefs on the Future of Children’s Health Coverage

    Joan Alker

    Having concrete policy ideas may not be in vogue on the campaign trail, but here at CCF we are grateful to have the opportunity and challenge to think deeply about the future of health coverage for children and families. Today we are launching a new series of reports and briefs on the future of children’s…

  • The Future of Children’s Health Coverage: Children in the Marketplace

    Kelly Whitener

    Summary This paper addresses changes needed to improve the ability of Marketplace coverage to meet children’s needs. As the paper notes, relatively few children (approximately one million) receive their coverage through the Marketplace; most in public coverage are served through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. As a new source of coverage, and one…

  • Video Highlights of Hearing on “Flint Water Crisis: Impacts and Lessons Learned”

    CCFadmin

    On Wednesday, April 13, Georgetown CCF’s Executive Director Joan Alker testified before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on lessons emerging from the Flint water crisis. Here are the highlights of the hearing. Joan Alker explains the vital role of Medicaid in ameliorating harm in times of crisis… and how Medicaid can help meet…

  • Michigan’s Governor Turns to Medicaid in Flint Crisis

    Joan Alker

    We have often said that one of the very important features of Medicaid’s financing structure is the program’s ability to address emerging short and long-term public health crises. And previous national emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina and 9-11 also resulted in state leaders of all political persuasions looking to Medicaid to help them address critical…