Marketplace
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SNAP! And 153,000 California Children Can Get No-Cost Health Insurance Without an Application
By Kristen Golden Testa, The Children’s Partnership Imagine your infant has a high fever and you want to bring her to the doctor but don’t have health insurance. Or your young child can’t concentrate at school due to a tooth ache and you can’t afford to go to the dentist without coverage. Now imagine, one…
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Rep. Waxman’s Legacy Includes Significant Improvements in Children’s Health Coverage
Like many of you, I will truly miss Representative Henry Waxman when he retires from Congress at the end of this term. I admire his work ethic, deep concern for others and tireless efforts to stand up for those who need his help the most. Most of all, I admire his ability to get things…
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New CBO Numbers: Cause for Controversy or Celebration?
Unsurprisingly, the latest report from the Congressional Budget Office sparked attacks and counter-attacks from both sides of the polarized debate over the Affordable Care Act. Opponents argued that the new estimates on employment support their charge that the ACA is a “job killer,” while supporters responded that the CBO said no such thing. In the…
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Find a Baseline and Set Standards for Hospital Presumptive Eligibility From There
As we approach the Winter Olympics, I was thinking about how the world’s elite athletes achieve such high standards of performance. It’s a rarity that such athletes emerge from the unknown at the top of their fields. It takes training, coaching, assessing, testing new techniques, making adjustments and, over time with lots of practice, top…
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Here’s the Latest on Mandate Exemptions
By Joe Touschner Now that 2014 is here, the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is in effect to encourage individuals and families to maintain health coverage. This year, though, will be a transition year for many when they won’t face any penalty for reasonable gaps in coverage. We’ve learned more about how the individual mandate…
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CBPP Finds New Plan to Repeal ACA Would Lead to Deep Cuts for Medicaid Beneficiaries, Higher Costs and Fewer Consumer Protections
By Edwin Park, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) unveiled a new plan to repeal all of health reform (the Affordable Care Act or ACA) except for certain provisions related to Medicare, cap federal Medicaid funding, and create a new tax credit for people…
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How the Three “R’s” Contributed to the Success of Medicare Part D
Senator Marco Rubio has introduced a bill to repeal the risk corridors that offer protections for both insurers and consumers who participate in the new insurance Marketplaces, while referring to these corridors as a bailout for the insurance industry. Ironically, one of the models for these risk corridors is the Medicare Part D drug benefit that was enacted when Republicans…
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Federal Court Ruling: Navigator Laws Cannot Impose Additional Requirements on Navigators and Other Assisters in Federal Marketplace States
A federal district court ruling yesterday regarding Missouri’s navigator law has the health coverage community abuzz. As I noted in this Say Ahhh! blog, a number of states have proposed or passed legislation to require additional training and licensing for navigators, and sometimes other assisters, and restrict the activities they are required to perform by…
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The ACA in 2014: Helping Consumers Transition to New Coverage
January 1st was the first day of coverage for those who enrolled in health plans through a health insurance marketplace. All eyes were watching to see how successful the transition from enrollment to the use of new coverage would be. The good news? Unlike the first few days of the Medicare Part D program, the first…
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Unreasonable Standards Will Likely Discourage Hospitals from Doing Presumptive Eligibility
I’ve written several Say Ahhh! blogs on the Affordable Care Act’s new hospital presumptive eligibility provisions. The ACA explicitly gives hospitals the prerogative to make Medicaid presumptive eligibility (PE) decisions, regardless of whether the state has previously implemented the policy option. In particular, presumptive eligibility provides a great opportunity for hospitals to connect uninsured kids…
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New Report Looks at Factors Leading to Medical Debt Among People with Insurance
Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation—in collaboration with Kevin Lucia and Katie Keith of CHIR—released a new report exploring factors leading to medical debt among people with insurance. The report identifies common causes and consequences of medical debt, and discusses the triggers of medical debt that will and won’t be affected by the Affordable Care Act. It finds that health…
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2014 is Finally Here! Let the Coverage Begin …
I was excited to come to work today – the first business day of full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. It has been many decades in the making – but the concept that all Americans should have access to affordable health insurance is finally the law of the land. And anti-consumer practices, used by…
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Many Southern States Miss Opportunity to Address Health Disparities
By Tara Mancini A new report from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) indicates that a little more than half (53%) of uninsured people of color have family income at or below 138% and therefore should qualify for Medicaid in 2014 as the ACA originally intended. Yet, almost a third (30%) of…
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CCF Partners with Urban Institute and Packard on New Health Reform Survey
By Martha Heberlein Today, Health Affairs released a paper detailing a new (and in our opinion a very exciting!) survey – the Health Reform Monitoring Survey (HRMS) – designed by the Urban Institute. This internet-based survey is intended to provide rapid-cycle feedback on changes under the ACA. The goal is to replicate key outcome measures…
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Pennsylvania’s Medicaid Waiver Proposal Does Not Impress
Last Friday, Governor Corbett’s Administration released it’s Section 1115 waiver application draft. This initiates the process for the required 30-day state comment period that must precede the submission of the waiver request to the federal government. The state will be holding a series of public hearings and webinars with the final hearing in Harrisburg…
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Patience and Flexibility Needed as Those with New Insurance Start Using Health Care Services After January 1
Now that healthcare.gov is working much better and enrollment numbers are rising, it is a good time to think about being prepared for the January 1 launch of new coverage. Beyond counting enrollment, the media are already focused on what will happen to those who sign up for insurance effective on January 1. If Sophie…
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Senate Finance Committee to Consider Medicaid and CHIP Extensions
Today, the Senate Finance Committee released a draft summary and description of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) repeal, or “doc fix,” bill that committee will take up Thursday morning. While the Medicare “doc fix,” a move to permanently change the way Medicare pays providers, is the committee’s featured event, the Chairman’s Mark also seeks…
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Iowa Medicaid Expansion Waiver Approved!
Just in time for Christmas, and more importantly in time to get the program up and running by January 1st, federal CMS has granted Iowa’s request for two Section 1115 waivers to allow the state to pursue its own version of Medicaid expansion. This is good news for the more than 100,000 Iowans who stand…
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Translating Eligibility and Enrollment Lingo
My colleagues just released a helpful update on state progress in creating more consumer-friendly eligibility and enrollment systems. If you’re like me, when reading Medicaid eligibility terms like “MAGI conversion” and “flat file,” your mind wanders to a foreign money exchange or even a children’s book character—yes, the omnipresent Flat Stanley—rather than focusing on people…
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Another Reason to Be Thankful: Sixteen States to Eliminate CHIP Waiting Periods
While we’re still celebrating our nation’s continued success in improving coverage for children, there’s another reason to be thankful. As news has trickled in over the past few months about states eliminating their CHIP waiting periods, CCF teamed up with MACPAC staff to take stock of where things stand. And the good news is that…