Medicaid
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As millions lose health insurance, Trump administration offers little help
Los Angeles Times By: Noam Levey As millions of people lose jobs in the coronavirus outbreak, jeopardizing their health benefits, the Trump administration and many states are doing little if anything to connect Americans with other insurance coverage. … Federal courts have blocked work requirements, deeming them inconsistent with Medicaid’s purpose of providing health coverage,…
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Pandemic And Budget Cuts Might Trap Colorado Health Programs In A Vicious Cycle
Colorado Public Radio By: Markian Hawryluk As a teenager, Paulina Castle struggled for years with suicidal thoughts. When her mental health was at its most fragile, she would isolate herself, spending days in her room alone. “That’s the exact thing that makes you feel significantly worse,” the 26-year-old Denver woman said. “It creates a cycle…
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New CCF Issue Brief on How Medicaid Block Grants and Per Capita Caps Would Harm State Funding of K-12 Education
Today, we released a new issue brief focusing on how radically restructuring federal financing of the Medicaid program by converting it to a block grant or a per capita cap would impose large, negative pressures on state budgets. That, in turn, could lead to significant reductions in state funding of K-12 education, which would result…
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Pandemic Creates Pitfalls, Opportunity for Maternal Medicaid Coverage
U.S. News By: Gaby Galvin Efforts to curb the country’s maternal mortality crisis through policy change have, like most issues, taken a back seat to the coronavirus pandemic. … … In an ironic twist, though, the pandemic’s economic crisis has also likely kept some new mothers on Medicaid longer than they normally would have been eligible.…
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Illustrating the Harmful Impact of Medicaid Block Grants and Per Capita Caps on State Funding of K-12 Education
Introduction States now face large and growing budget deficits due to the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.[note]Elizabeth McNichol and Michael Leachman, “States Continue to Face Large Shortfalls Due to COVID-19 Effects, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, June 15, 2020, https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/atoms/ files/6-15-20sfp.pdf, and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “States Grappling with Hit to Tax…
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Children’s Advocates Join Calls to Expand Medicaid
KMMO Kids Win Missouri, a multi-issue children’s advocacy coalition, announced its official endorsement of the “Yes on 2” ballot initiative on Wednesday, July 8. The initiative will expand health insurance coverage for parents and workers in Missouri… According to a report from the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, states that have not expanded Medicaid…
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CCF Comments to Trump Administration Medicaid Drug Rebate Rule
CCF has submitted public comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the proposed Medicaid drug rebate rule which, among other things, would change how drug manufacturers report “best price” under the effective Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. As I have explained, the proposed rule’s best price reporting changes are intended to facilitate…
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Medicaid enrollment increase puts pressure on state budgets
Roll Call By: Sandhya Raman Medicaid experts and public health officials are pushing Congress to increase federal funding for the program for low-income people, as the COVID-19 pandemic pushes more individuals into government-sponsored coverage. Total Medicaid enrollment was up 5.8 percent over the past three months, data on 15 states by the Georgetown University Center…
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Medicaid Enrollment Increases Show Surprisingly Wide Variability Among States
We’ve continued to look at state administrative data on Medicaid enrollment changes, and we are seeing curious differences among 22 states that have posted May enrollment data. Our baseline for Medicaid enrollment data is February since that is the last month before the pandemic really got going and the Medicaid disenrollment freeze became effective in…
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Republican Leaders Want to End Obamacare. Their Voters Are Expanding It.
New York Times By: Sarah Kliff Deeply conservative Oklahoma narrowly approved a ballot initiative Tuesday to expand Medicaid to nearly 200,000 low-income adults, the first state to do so in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The vote to expand the Affordable Care Act’s reach once again put voters, many of them conservative, at odds…
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Trump’s goal to void the ACA in the midst of pandemic is telling
The Iola Register A philosophy of the Trump Administration was laid bare last week when in the midst of a global pandemic it took action to strip the health insurance of 23 million Americans… For many health experts, the most troubling aspect of a recent increase in the number of children without health insurance is…
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Cost at center of Medicaid expansion vote
The Journal Record By: Trevor Brown In a recent video ad opposing a state question to expand Medicaid, a hammer comes crashing down on a pink piggy bank as a voice warns that approving the proposal will lead to “higher taxes and cuts to core services.” … “There have been multiple studies in individual states…
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New Report Finds Chilling Effect, Avoidance of Health Care Services Among Immigrant Families
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the US, public health experts have emphasized the disparate impact the virus is having on certain groups – those over 65 years old (especially in congregate care settings), those with underlying health conditions, and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), Black, and Latino communities. Immigrants are also disproportionately…
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Five Steps States Can Take to Address Inequities of Health Crisis
In May, Tekisha Dwan Everette and Karen Siegel from Health Equity Solutions released an article titled, “Five Key Questions State Health Officials Can Ask Right Now to Advance Health Equity During COVID-19 Response Efforts.” Preliminary state COVID-19 data disaggregated by race, geography and gender shows significant disparities in care and infection rates. These disparities are…
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Oklahoma Voters Approve Constitutional Amendment to Expand Medicaid
Oklahoma voters took a historic step and nudged their state forward toward becoming the 38th in the nation (including Washington, DC) to provide residents more affordable health insurance through their Medicaid program. The constitutional amendment passed by voters requires the state to open the doors to coverage no later than July 1, 2021. State leaders…
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Coal communities increasingly rely on federal health programs
Energy News US By: Mason Adams and Dustin Bleizeffer Every July for two decades, volunteer doctors, dentists and nurses gathered at the Wise County Fairgrounds to deliver free medical, dental and vision care…. “One thing that’s struck me is how Medicaid in the last five years or so has become much more popular than it…
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Fact Sheets: Latino Children’s Health Coverage
State officials’ decisions about coverage options, especially in times of crises, have a profound effect on children and can exacerbate pre-existing racial and ethnic disparities. For notes on methodology, visit this page. Arizona Fact Sheet California Fact Sheet Florida Fact Sheet Georgia Fact Sheet Nevada Fact Sheet Puerto Rico Fact Sheet Texas Fact Sheet For…
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Methodology: Latino Children’s Coverage Health Fact Sheets
Fact Sheets are additional analyses building upon the following brief report: Whitener, K., Lopez, S., Roygardner, L. & Snider, M. (2020). Decade of Success for Latino Children’s Health Now in Jeopardy (March 10, 2020). Unless otherwise noted, the data cited is based on Georgetown University Center for Children and Families analysis of the U.S. Census…
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Is pandemic time the right time to make Medicaid recipients look for jobs?
Montana Free Press By: Katheryn Houghton In 2019, Montana lawmakers passed Medicaid expansion, building in new work and “community engagement” requirements for eligibility. Those requirements were scheduled to go into effect this summer. In the interim, a pandemic has upended both the statewide economy and the employment status and prospects of thousands of Montanans…. Joan…
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At Heart of Medicaid Expansion Vote: What Program Would Cost Oklahoma
Oklahoma Watch By: Trevor Brown In a recent video ad opposing a state question to expand Medicaid, a hammer comes crashing down on a pink piggy bank as a voice warns that approving the proposal will lead to “higher taxes and cuts to core services.”… “There have been multiple studies in individual states and nationally…
