Medicaid
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Medicaid Learning Lab
Medicaid, the foundation of affordable, comprehensive health coverage for low-income children and families, is a complex federal-state partnership program. It is essential for everyone working on improving affordable health coverage or advocating for low-income families to develop a solid base of knowledge and understanding about how this critical federal-state program works. The Georgetown University Center for…
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Trump’s Farewell Gift to Florida’s Medicaid Program
A few days before departing, former CMS Administrator and Trump appointee Seema Verma handed out ten-year Medicaid demonstration waiver extensions for political allies, with Texas and Florida,[1] approvals being granted late Friday, January 15th. The Friday before (Jan. 8th) CMS had approved the infamous and dangerous Tennessee waiver, which my colleagues explained beautifully here. Ten…
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Improving Medicaid Managed Care for Children: What a Dashboard Could Do
This is the season of Medicaid policy options—especially those competing for the attention of a new Administration and a new Congress. But the federal government is not the only audience; this week a terrific report was issued to policymakers in California. Written by Jocelyn Guyer (a former CCFer), Alice Lam, and Madeleine Toups at Manatt…
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A Check-In on Leveraging the Power of Children’s Check-Ups
By Donna Cohen Ross, Jocelyn Guyer, Alice Lam and Madeleine Toups The pediatric primary care setting provides a near-universal opportunity to support the youngest patients and their caregivers, strengthening vitally important foundational relationships and promoting social and emotional development. When it launched in 2017, the Pediatrics Supporting Parents (PSP) initiative set out to explore core practices…
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Biden Administration Signs Health Care Executive Orders, Puts Welcome Mat Back Out
Today January 28th is Health Care theme day for the Biden Administration, which is in the midst of releasing a carefully orchestrated set of Executive Orders (EO) on a range of issues. Two Executive Orders were signed by the President today, the first to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, and the second to…
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Senate Voting Rules and Budget Reconciliation Explained (Part 1)
In the House of Representatives, legislation passes with a simple majority of 218 of 435 votes recorded on an electronic voting system. The Senate system is, by comparison, stuck in the dark ages. In the Senate, the clerk calls the names of each Senator and records the votes on a tally sheet. Like the House,…
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Biden Administration Promises Predictability on Future Extensions of the Public Health Emergency
In a recent letter to Governors, Acting Health and Human Services Secretary Norris Cochran signaled that the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) “will likely remain in place for the entirety of 2021.” Moreover, the letter assures states that when a determination is made to terminate the PHE or let it expire, HHS will provide states…
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Critical Health Equity Context Needed in New Maternal and Infant Health Data Profile
Just before the end of 2020, CMS published a valuable new trove of data on indicators of maternal and infant health in Medicaid, designed to create a profile of the health status of pregnant and postpartum women and their infants. The information is part of several new reports and learning communities launched by CMS to…
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The Tennessee Waiver: Block Grant, Aggregate Cap, or Windfall?
In their wondrous 1957 interpretation of a Gershwin classic, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong sing, “You like potato and I like potahto/You like tomato and I like tomahto.” Their back-and-forth has echoes in the current debate over what to call the TennCare III demonstration, approved on January 8 by the former CMS Administrator, Seema Verma.…
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Another Parting Gift for the Biden Administration – the “SUNSET” Rule
The great American singer Wilson Pickett probably was not thinking of the SUNSET rule when he wrote his soul anthem, “In the Midnight Hour.” But Secretary Azar waited ‘til the midnight hour, and there it is, in the January 19, 2021 Federal Register: “Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely,” a final rule issued by…
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Trump Administration Tries Its Best to Knock Legs Out from Under Medicaid on the Way Out the Door
So far 2021 has been a really wild and difficult ride for me and millions of others in the U.S. with COVID-19 ravaging the nation, an armed insurrection here in DC, and an ongoing economic crisis leaving so many families in need. My mind has been struggling to absorb all that is happening so quickly.…
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New Grant Opportunity to Boost Well-Child Visits and Immunizations in Pediatric Primary Care
As part of our joint project with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Keeping Kids Connected to Care During COVID-19 and Beyond, we have been ringing the alarm bell about the troubling declines in well-child visits and immunizations because of the pandemic. Pediatricians and child health advocates have teamed up to educate and engage community…
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Limited Postpartum Medicaid Coverage Extensions are a Missed Opportunity
States are continuing to push for extending Medicaid coverage for postpartum women beyond the current federal cutoff of 60 days after the end of their pregnancy. Just in the last month, three more states submitted waiver applications to CMS: Indiana, Georgia, and Texas. Before the end of the year, we submitted comments on Indiana’s limited…
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The End-of-Year COVID Relief Package: Medicaid and CHIP Highlights
After more than the usual end-of-session drama, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) became law on December 27, 2020 (P.L. 116-260). The sprawling, 2,124-page opus includes not just badly needed COVID relief for millions of unemployed Americans but also funding for the entire federal government and protections against surprise medical bills for consumers with private…
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New CCF-Commonwealth Paper Examines How Block Grant Financing Severely Harmed Puerto Rico’s Medicaid Program
My new paper for the Commonwealth Fund analyzes how Puerto Rico’s Medicaid block grant financing contributed to Puerto Rico’s overall fiscal and debt crisis and resulted in a Medicaid program that is far less generous than what is provided in the states. Puerto Rico’s experience thus offers critical lessons to federal and state policymakers about…
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A Parting Gift for the Incoming Administration: “Good Guidance Practices”
This week—two weeks before the inauguration of a new President—the self-proclaimed “Good Guidance Practices” regulation issued by the outgoing Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) takes effect. As proposed in August, the regulation was not so good for Medicaid and CHIP. In its final form, published on December 7, the regulation…
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Study on Intergenerational Health Mobility Provides Strong Case for Early Childhood Interventions
Examining how children’s health compares to the health of their parents can offer valuable insight into the individual, family, and community-level factors that affect a child’s health status. This is the aim of a new Health Affairs article from Jason Fletcher and Katie Jajtner at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which seeks to bring an intergenerational…
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Medicaid Managed Care Covid-19 Advocacy Action Guide
Georgetown University CCF partnered with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to produce a Medicaid Managed Care COVID-19 Advocacy Action Guide. The guide explains how practitioners and child health advocates can work with MCOs and state policymakers to increase financial support for pediatric and primary care practices serving children and families enrolled in Medicaid. The…
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Advocacy Guide Outlines Strategies for Supporting Primary Care Practitioners in Medicaid Managed Care Networks During Pandemic
The pandemic has not been good for children or their physicians. Well-child and other non-emergency visits are down, so children are missing important screening benchmarks as well as immunizations. Pediatric practitioners who are paid on a fee-for-service basis have seen their revenues fall and the financial stability of their practices imperiled. The situation has improved…
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Medicaid Managed Care: The Case for Transparency in the Biden Administration
On the way out the door, CMS Administrator Seema Verma issued changes to Medicaid managed care regulations that, among other things, weaken the standards for measuring the adequacy of managed care organization (MCO) provider networks. These changes, which will be effective December 14, were adopted over the objections of CCF and other beneficiary advocates. They…
