Marketplace
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Speaking of Medicaid …
By Joe Touschner Say Ahhh! readers talk about Medicaid and CHIP all the time and it’s long been a key topic during state budget hearings. But lately, Medicaid seems to be under discussion everywhere, including the last presidential debate. And talk of Medicaid is only going to intensify in the coming months as we enter…
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Final Rule Approves Pay Raise for Medicaid Primary Care Services
Starting in January 2013 and extending through December 2014, physicians and practitioners (such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners) will receive reimbursement for Medicaid primary care services comparable to those paid for Medicare. As I noted in this blog when the proposed rule was released, primary care is one of our best buys in health…
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Medicaid Expansion: Out of the Woodwork or Onto the Welcome Mat
By Lynn Blewett, SHADAC Director (Editor’s Note: This blog originally appeared on the SHADAC blog. ) The Woodwork Effect In health policy terms, the “woodwork effect” is a phenomenon that occurs when an expansion of public program eligibility takes place (whether through federal action or a state-level initiative), and individuals who were already eligible for…
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What Was Medicaid Doing in a Foreign Policy Debate?
My oldest son was required to watch this week’s presidential debate and report back to his teacher on flawed logical reasoning by the candidates. I thought my husband, who is somewhat of a foreign policy wonk, would be on homework helper duty and I could just sit back and enjoy the show—after all, it was…
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More Children Have Health Insurance Thanks to Medicaid, CHIP and ACA
Today we released a report with some encouraging news for America’s children and families. Our report found that despite the fact that childhood poverty remained high, the number of uninsured children declined last year. This builds on the good news on young adult coverage gains reported in September. The Affordable Care Act was behind the young…
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Where do States Stand on Affordable Care Act’s Essential Health Benefits?
By Joe Touschner As shocking as it may seem, the end of the year is less than 90 days away. That’s right, we’re in the fourth quarter, the one that includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, the holiday season, and New Year’s Eve. The third quarter wrapped up at the end of September, and with it the time…
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Blurriness Continues to Swirl Around Role of Navigators vs. Insurance Brokers
In July, HHS Secretary Sebelius responded to an inquiry from a group of Congressmen regarding distinctions between navigators and brokers. The Secretary’s letter clearly articulated that states cannot require navigators to be licensed insurance brokers or agents. The letter provides other helpful clarifications, as well. Unfortunately, some of the wording of the letter has spurred additional…
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New Issue Brief Focuses on State Action to Promote Child-Only Coverage
Editor’s Note: This blog originally appeared in the CHIRblog, a blog focused on health insurance coverage, insurance markets, and how people are affected by insurance reform. By Katie Keith, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms Today, the Commonwealth Fund released a new issue brief on the availability of child-only policies. The issue brief is part of an ongoing series by CHIR on…
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Covering Parents is Good for Kids: Treating Depressed Mothers Can Help Children’s Development
Editor’s Note: Welcome to the fourth in a series of blogs on how covering parents helps children. Previous blogs on this topic have pointed out that extending Medicaid coverage to parents will provide a good value to states; maternal, infant and early childhood home visiting programs help prevent child maltreatment; and the single best way…
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Pregnant Women’s Medicaid Eligibility After 2014 – What’s the Minimum?
By Martha Heberlein A great degree of confusion surrounds this question and for good reason. You may be surprised to learn that come January 1, 2014, states must cover pregnant women in Medicaid at either 133% of the FPL OR the income standard in place as of December 19, 1989 (or as of July 1,…
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Waiting for 2014: One Family’s Story
How the ACA’s essential health benefits may help Henry get the health care he needs to grow and thrive. By JoAnn Volk, Georgetown University Center for Health Insurance Reform Losing health care coverage just before your due date is not something you read about in “What to Expect When Expecting.” Who would expect to lose…
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Summaries of Insurance Benefits and Coverage will Help Consumers Comparison Shop
By Sabrina Corlette, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms As of September 23, the “wild west” of shopping for health insurance coverage has been at least partially tamed, thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Consumers can now get standardized, simplified summaries of benefits and coverage (SBC) that will help them understand what’s covered by an…
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ACS Data Shows Country Heading in Right Direction but has Long Way to Go in Bringing Down Uninsured Rate
By Tara Mancini Today’s release of the 2011 estimates of the American Community Survey (ACS) continues the good news on coverage announced in last week’s Current Population Survey (CPS). The national uninsured rate saw a significant decline from 15.5% to 15.1%, with children and young adults likely accounting for much of that decrease (sadly, poverty…
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Tick Tick Tick – Do States Still Have Time to Build New IT Systems?
High-performing, technology-enabled eligibility and enrollment systems are unequivocally at the heart of the vision of streamlined, real-time access to health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). New systems offer the promise of remedying many of the consumer issues that advocates have worked on for years including eliminating unnecessary paperwork, making notices clear and understandable,…
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Uninsured Vets and Their Families Will Benefit from ACA
It was somewhat startling to learn that one in ten veterans are uninsured in the U.S. A report released earlier this summer by the Urban Institute’s Jennifer Haley and Genevieve Kenney (based on 2010 ACS data) found that 1.3 million of the nation’s 12.5 million nonelderly veterans did not have health insurance coverage and weren’t using…
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NAIC – Moving Forward on Consumer Protections in the ACA
By Sabrina Corlette, Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms I have good news for those of us who have been feeling something lacking in our lives lately. You know who you are. You’re deep into ACA implementation but the last few months you’ve felt a void…a sort of emptiness…. You’re just not feeling the…
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Lack of Dental Care Poses Health Risk to Children
By Tara Mancini Dental cavities are the most prevalent chronic disease among children. Many children are not able to obtain the dental care they need due to cost barriers, a shortage of dental health professionals in their area or for other reasons. According to an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, as many as 4.6 million…
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Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers: Duties and Competencies
Exchanges are required to set up navigator programs and federal regulations specify a minimum set of duties and competencies required of navigators. However, states have to flexibility to expand the role of navigators to maximize the effectiveness and reach of their programs. By identifying and focusing on the needs of consumers upfront, Exchanges are better…
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Federal Policy Makes a Difference in the Lives of Children and Families
As many readers know, this week the annual Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey numbers were released and the number of uninsured persons actually declined for the first time since 2007 – by 1.4 million. Since 2007 the number of uninsured adults has been growing – this year marks the first turnaround. This bit of good…
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Creating a Job Description for Navigators
We’ve posted several blogs over the past year about how navigators will play a critical role in helping consumers connect to expanded and more affordable health coverage options. In July, we launched a new series of briefs about navigators, the first of which, “Countdown to 2014: Designing Navigator Programs to Meet the Needs of Consumers,”…