Medicaid
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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…
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House Hearing Will Examine the Looming Fiscal Cliff for Medicaid Programs in the Territories
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021, the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold an important hearing on “Averting a Crisis: Protecting Access to Health Care in the U.S. Territories.” In December 2019, Congress provided Puerto Rico and the other territories — American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S.…
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American Rescue Plan is Lifting Children Out of Poverty: Will it Affect Their Medicaid Eligibility?
An extraordinary and historic moment happened last week for children and families when President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law. The bill is the 3rd piece of emergency legislation enacted since the advent of the COVID-19 global pandemic, which has upended the country in so many ways. It is hard to imagine that…
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American Rescue Plan Act Will Strengthen Public and Private Health Insurance
The House and Senate have passed the American Rescue Plan and the President plans to sign it tomorrow bringing critical relief to America’s families. In addition to providing relief to unemployed workers, pulling millions of children and families out of poverty and helping school districts address learning loss, the COVID-19 relief legislation will strengthen both…
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Biden Administration Actions on Public Charge Rules Help Restore Hope for Immigrant Families
This week brought some much-needed good news on public charge, which has immigration advocates singing Prince’s classic hit, “1999,” in homage to a return to the longstanding public charge rules also known as the 1999 field guidance. The good news is certainly worthy of a princely celebration, but some may be wondering how we got…
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Kaiser Family Foundation and Georgetown CCF Release 50-State Survey on Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility and Enrollment
The 2021 Annual 50-State Survey on Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility and Enrollment conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and CCF is now available. As in previous years, the report confirms eligibility levels for children, pregnant women, parents and expansion adults. However, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the survey was scaled back in…
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Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, and Cost Sharing Policies as of January 2021: Findings from a 50-State Survey
Executive Summary During the coronavirus pandemic, Medicaid has played a key role in providing coverage to millions of people who have lost their jobs or their health coverage. In addition, provisions included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act require states to maintain eligibility…
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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…
