Medicaid
has transformed health care for low-income families and individuals, especially children, pregnant mothers, parents and children with disabilities and special health care needs.
CMS Affirms States Must Cover Stand-Alone Vaccine Counseling under EPSDT, More Work to Be Done
As families and parents across the country eagerly await approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5, new guidance from CMS reaffirms that states must cover stand-alone vaccine counseling for children covered by Medicaid under EPSDT. According to guidance released last week, CMS reiterates that under Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment […]
Secretary Becerra Will Extend the PHE Again, What Does This Mean for Medicaid’s Continuous Coverage Protections?
On their second day in office, the Biden administration promised to give states 60 days notice of the termination of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) since there are significant consequences — especially for the operation of state Medicaid programs. The Biden administration did not provide states with a 60-day notice earlier this week, so […]
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 […]
Fewer People Lost Postpartum Medicaid Coverage During the Pandemic, New Study Finds
More people had stable access to Medicaid coverage in the year after giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, which suggests that the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s Medicaid continuous coverage provision, which linked receipt of enhanced federal Medicaid and CHIP funding to a prohibition on involuntary disenrollment from Medicaid during the COVID-19 public health emergency, […]
Standards for Provider Network Adequacy in Medicaid and the Marketplaces
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued final rules for provider network adequacy in Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) offering coverage in the Marketplaces that the federal government operates through HealthCare.gov. Under these rules, which come with the snappy title, “Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters” and the even snappier initialism (NBPP), CMS […]
Federal Fiscal Relief Funding Offset More than Twice the Cost to States to Maintain Medicaid Continuous Coverage
A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) estimates the COVID-related increase in federal Medicaid and CHIP funding will exceed the cost of maintaining continuous coverage for Medicaid enrollees as required under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The analysis estimates that between January 2020 and September 2022, states will receive approximately $100.4 billion […]
