Medicaid
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More States Moving to Extend Medicaid Postpartum Coverage Option Under ARP, Why Are Georgia and Missouri Limiting Its Reach?
Extending postpartum coverage continues to be a hot topic in state legislatures, in Congress, and in the Biden Administration. As my colleagues shared in a blog last week, CMS recently approved Section 1115 demonstration waivers in Georgia and Missouri that extend postpartum benefits to at least some pregnant people. While a step forward, the approvals…
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Joan Alker Discusses Children’s Health Insurance
The number of uninsured children in the U.S. has risen significantly in the past few years. In this episode for the Catholic Health USA podcast, Joan Alker from Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and Dr. Heidi Sallee from SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital discuss the reasons for this trend, the policy implications,…
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Low-Wage Uninsured Workers: State Profiles
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) includes new large financial incentives for states to extend health insurance coverage to low-wage workers and other adults earning less than $17,775 a year. These incentives apply to regular spending in a state’s Medicaid program and offer a five-percentage point across the board increase in…
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A Profile of Tennessee’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) includes new large financial incentives for states to extend health insurance coverage to low-wage workers and other adults earning less than $17,775 a year.¹ These incentives apply to regular spending in a state’s Medicaid program and offer a five-percentage point across the board increase in the…
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Shifting the Paradigm: How Medicaid Can Strengthen Behavioral Health Crisis Response
Police respond to a wide range of situations beyond crimes — everything from traffic stops to domestic disputes to homelessness. They are also generally the first responders in situations involving mental health or substance use crises. This unexpected, largely unrecognized role reflects an unmet need for behavioral health care, gaps in community-based services for mental…
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Georgia and Missouri Postpartum Medicaid Waiver Approvals Promote Limited Coverage
As Say Ahh readers know, there have been bursts of Section 1115 demonstration activity since the start of the year. April was no different, bringing another flurry of actions from CMS. This time, however, there were some new demonstration approvals that promote coverage, albeit in a more limited way than we would have liked to…
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Proposals to Cover All Kids Gain Momentum in State Legislatures
For years we’ve known the important role health insurance plays in making sure kids have access to the care they need, and how Medicaid and CHIP are critical sources of coverage for millions of children and families. While most uninsured kids are eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP, these programs are not open…
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Texas Medicaid Waiver a Diversion in Crisis of the Uninsured
Confused about Texas Medicaid funding? Understandable. The April decision that Texas must “redo” the process to extend our Medicaid “1115 waiver” funding past 2022 — an extension granted by the Trump administration despite the lack of a required public comment process — is important but not calamitous. Texas’ waiver agreement, approved by President Barack Obama…
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Medicaid Managed Care and Children with Disabilities: A Cautionary Tale
Loyal fans of the Say Ahhh! blog know that Medicaid is the nation’s largest health insurer for children, covering over 35 million. They also know that Medicaid does not exclude any child from coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition; in fact, some children qualify for Medicaid because they receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI)…
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Low-Wage Uninsured Workers: Who are They and Where do They Work?
Allie Corcoran and I have embarked on a new research project looking at the occupations and industries of low-wage, uninsured workers in states that have not expanded Medicaid with American Community Survey data.[1] As readers of the SayAhhh! blog know, there are 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid and have higher uninsured rates for…
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A Profile of Alabama’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) includes new large financial incentives for states to extend health insurance coverage to low-wage workers and other adults earning less than $17,775 a year.¹ These incentives apply to regular spending in a state’s Medicaid program and offer a five-percentage point across the board increase in the…
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A Profile of Georgia’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) includes new large financial incentives for states to extend health insurance coverage to low-wage workers and other adults earning less than $17,775 a year.¹ These incentives apply to regular spending in a state’s Medicaid program and offer a five-percentage point across the board increase in…
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A Profile of Missouri’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) includes new large financial incentives for states to extend health insurance coverage to low-wage workers and other adults earning less than $17,775 a year.¹ These incentives apply to regular spending in a state’s Medicaid program and offer a five-percentage point across the board increase in the…
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New Factsheet Shows that Cashiers, Housekeepers and Cooks Are Among the Mississippians that Would Benefit Most from Medicaid Expansion
CCF and the Mississippi Center for Justice recently jointly released the first in a series of factsheets dedicated to examining the landscape of low-wage, uninsured workers in states that have not yet expanded Medicaid. The factsheet, titled “A Profile of Mississippi’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers” comes as the American Rescue Plan provides new incentives for states…
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Florida Legislature’s Medicaid Folly
The Florida Legislature is about to make final decisions about the state’s budget in the next few weeks – decisions that are constructed on false fiscal assumptions — with reckless options on the table that would weaken the state’s health care system and lead to more uninsured Floridians if finalized. During what we all hope…
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A Profile of Mississippi’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) includes new financial incentives for states to extend health insurance coverage to low-wage workers and other adults earning less than $17,775 a year through Medicaid.¹ These incentives apply to regular spending in a state’s Medicaid program and offer a five percent across-the-board increase in the…
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HHS Secretary Becerra Approves Illinois Waiver Request to Extend Postpartum Medicaid Coverage
New mothers in Illinois will now be able to stay eligible for Medicaid and CHIP coverage for one year after delivery under a Medicaid Section 1115 waiver approved today by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. The approval allows Illinois to receive federal matching funds for providing an additional 10 months of pregnancy-related Medicaid and…
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Advancing Postpartum Coverage in Medicaid: Waiver or SPA?
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act has many new opportunities and important provisions that we are still absorbing and unpacking. One key change, as readers of SayAhh! know, is the new state option to provide 12 months of postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage to women after the end of their pregnancy, well beyond the…
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Implementing American Rescue Plan’s 12-month Postpartum Medicaid Coverage: Federal and State Actions
Federal matching funds for the American Rescue Plan Act’s new state Medicaid option to provide 12 full months of postpartum coverage won’t be available *officially* to states until April 2022. (Say Ahhh! Readers know that the Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires states to keep all Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled, including postpartum women, so no coverage…
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Medicaid Wars: Rescind and Withdraw (Episode II)
The Biden Administration has a long list of bad Medicaid policies to unwind. As chronicled in Episode I, the groundwork for the unwinding was laid in a Presidential Executive Order, “Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act,” issued on January 28. Among other things, the E.O. directs the Secretary of HHS to review section 1115 demonstrations and…
