Medicaid
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Federal Incentives to Expand Medicaid and 2021 State Legislative Session End Dates
Congress debates and looks likely to pass a COVID relief bill this month that includes substantial new financial incentives for Medicaid non-expansion states to finally extend health coverage to lower income parents and workers as 39 other states (including DC) have done. States that expand would get two years of increased Medicaid payments based on…
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Health Policy and the First Amendment: Protecting public’s right to be heard in the state legislative process
Georgetown University Collaboration Defends Rights, Facilitates Civic Engagement Recently here at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of my colleagues at the Georgetown University Law School in the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection. Professor Mary McCord and Senior Counsel Annie Owens are respected attorneys…
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More Evidence that Medicaid Expansion Linked to Employment and Education Gains
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard people say “Medicaid expansion will encourage people not to work,” despite the fact that multiple studies have demonstrated just the opposite. We know that before the pandemic, most adults enrolled in Medicaid who could work did so, and the majority of adults who weren’t working reported…
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House-Passed American Rescue Plan Act Would Spur Medicaid Expansion and Promote Maternal Health
[Editor’s Note: President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law on March 11, 2021. See Georgetown University CCF/CHIR brief for a summary of final health coverage provisions.] On February 27, the House passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319), its COVID-19 relief reconciliation bill. The bill includes a number of provisions…
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New CBO Study Compares Net Prices for Brand-Name Drugs Among Federal Programs, Finds Medicaid Gets Largest Discounts
In a new groundbreaking study, the Congressional Budget Office compared brand-name drug prices, net of rebates and discounts, across select federal programs and agencies including Medicaid, Medicare Part D and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). It found that Medicaid gets the lowest net prices, far below that of Medicare Part D plans and well…
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CBO Estimates Confirm Lifting Medicaid Drug Rebate Cap Results in Significant Federal and State Savings
On Monday, February 22, the House Budget Committee plans to mark up the House COVID-19 relief reconciliation bill, with the full House possibly voting on the bill later in the week. As I have previously explained, one sound Medicaid provision — section 3107 of the bill —would, as of January 1, 2023, eliminate the current…
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Medicaid Expansion’s Effects on Families: More coverage, improved maternal health, better preventive care
We’ve been tracking the rates of uninsured children for more than a decade now, and after reaching an all-time low in 2016 nationwide, the number started going in the wrong direction over the past three years. From 2016 to 2019 approximately 726,000 more children became uninsured. The report we released today looks more closely at…
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Child Medicaid Enrollment Grew by 10% during the Pandemic in 2020
The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, recently explained that the official unemployment statistics are too low, and that unemployment was closer to 10% in January. With the pandemic still raging and economic conditions looking very troubling, Congress is considering a COVID relief package with some important Medicaid provisions – my colleague Edwin Park…
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House Energy and Commerce Committee Reconciliation Legislation Would Spur Medicaid Expansion and Promote Maternal Health
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has unveiled its portion of the House COVID-19 relief reconciliation bill, with a markup of the Committee’s recommendations scheduled for Thursday, February 11, 2021. Several of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s reconciliation provisions strengthen Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), including provisions to encourage states to finally…
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House Energy and Commerce Committee Reconciliation Legislation Includes Sound Medicaid Drug Rebate Provision
Last night, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled its recommendations for the House COVID-19 relief reconciliation bill, with a markup scheduled for February 11, 2021. One sound Medicaid provision would, as of January 1, 2023, eliminate the current cap on total drug rebates that manufacturers must pay state Medicaid programs, which would produce significant…
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President Biden’s Executive Order on Public Charge
On February 2, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order (EO) on various aspects of the U.S. immigration system, including public charge policies. Readers of SayAhhh! know that the Trump Administration changed longstanding public charge policies to make it harder for lawfully residing immigrants to obtain green cards by imposing a new wealth test. Though…
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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.…
