has transformed health care for low-income families and individuals, especially children, pregnant mothers, parents and children with disabilities and special health care needs.
-
Getting MAGI Right: When Does Social Security Income Count?
When the Affordable Care Act was implemented, we released a primer on the basics of MAGI – how rules for counting household size and income to determine eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP were changed to align with Marketplace subsidies. The move to MAGI has brought about a number of changes in Medicaid and CHIP, but…
-
Congress Reauthorized the SUPPORT Act, Now Comes the Hard Part
On December 1, President Trump signed into law the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025, extending a number of substance use disorder (SUD) prevention, treatment, and recovery programs through fiscal year 2030. The bipartisan bill—which passed the House 366-57 in June and the Senate by unanimous consent in September—reauthorizes critical programs including…
-
CMS Guidance on Medicaid Work Requirements Leaves States Hanging
CMS released preliminary guidance on H.R. 1’s mandatory Medicaid work requirements on December 8. The much-anticipated guidance fell far short of answering all the questions states need answered, but it did acknowledge that implementing the Medicaid work reporting requirements mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R. 1) will be a “serious undertaking for states…
-
Public Charge Changes Will Have Far-Reaching Consequences for Children, Pregnant Women and Families and Sow Fear in Immigrant Communities
The Trump Administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) this week on the Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility (2025 NPRM). “Public charge” is a term used in U.S. immigration law to refer to a person who is likely to become dependent on the government in the future. An immigrant…
-
CMS Issues New Guidance on H.R. 1’s Restrictions on State Use of Provider Taxes to Finance Medicaid
On November 14, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new guidance with some new detail about how it will implement provisions in H.R. 1 — the budget reconciliation law also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — that restrict states’ use of provider taxes to finance their share of…