Medicaid
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Medicaid Disaster Relief SPA Template Suggests Positive Steps States Can Take During the COVID-19 Pandemic
CMS has created a helpful template to make it easier for states to make temporary changes to their Medicaid State Plans during the COVID-19 National Emergency. For most strategies, states need only check off options on the template or, in some cases, provide brief descriptions of the groups or populations affected by the change. The…
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Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, and Cost Sharing Policies as of January 2020: Findings from a 50-State Survey
Introduction As the COVID-19 pandemic expands, needs for health insurance coverage through Medicaid and CHIP will increase for people who get sick and who lose private coverage due to the declining economy. Increasing enrollment for the 6.7 million uninsured individuals who are eligible for Medicaid and facilitating enrollment for the growing numbers of individuals who will…
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CMS Guidance Clarifies that Families First COVID-19 Response Bill’s FMAP Increase Will Benefit CHIP Too
On March 24, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance related to the temporary increase in the federal Medicaid matching rate (FMAP) included in the Families First COVID-19 response legislation (P.L. 116-127). As we have explained, Families First would increase the FMAP by 6.2 percentage points for all states and territories starting…
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Statement by Joan Alker on Withdrawal of the “Strengthening the Program Integrity of the Medicaid Eligibility Determination Process” Proposed Rule
“Today the Trump Administration wisely withdrew a rule that would have added onerous red tape and slashed enrollment just when people need Medicaid the most, as many lose their jobs and see their hours and wages drastically cut and others are stricken with COVID-19. Medicaid is one of the most powerful tools states have to…
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CHIP and COVID-19 Response
Yesterday, I blogged about my favorite provision in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that requires states to freeze disenrollment in Medicaid through the duration of the public health emergency in order to receive the 6.2 percentage point bump in the state’s regular federal Medicaid matching rate (FMAP). Sadly, the disenrollment freeze does not apply…
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Approved 1135 Waivers and State Plan Amendments for COVID-19
Introduction Section 1135 of the Social Security Act allows the Health and Human Services Secretary to waive or modify certain Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP requirements during a national emergency. The purpose of this authority is to ensure that during an emergency sufficient health care services are available to Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP `beneficiaries. As of March 13,…
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Families First Coronavirus Response Act Freezes Disenrollment in Medicaid
Over the weekend, CCF posted a brief explaining the Medicaid and CHIP provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act enacted on March 18, 2020. In particular, we highlighted four requirements that states must meet in order to qualify for the 6.2 percentage point FMAP bump. Like the current maintenance of effort (MOE) protecting Medicaid…
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How Would the Families First Coronavirus Response Act Help States Protect People and Public Health
Last week, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act became law (P.L. 116-127). It took effect on the same day as it was signed (March 18). That day came just one week after it was introduced in the House of Representatives. In the parlance of Capitol Hill, when a bill spans numerous programs and multiple committee jurisdictions,…
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Families First Coronavirus Response Act Medicaid and CHIP Provisions Explained
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law (P.L. 116-127) on March 18, 2020. The law is the second piece of legislation enacted by Congress in response to the coronavirus pandemic and negotiations are currently underway on a third, much larger economic stimulus package. The Families First legislation covers a broad range of…
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We Must Rise to the Challenge and Help Latino Children Get the Health Care They Need
Yesterday (March 18, 2020), we released a report, “Decade of Success for Latino Children’s Health Now in Jeopardy,” in partnership with UndiosUS. The data in this report predate the recent COVID-19 outbreak, but the message is clear. All children need health coverage – especially in times like these. An effective defense against a pandemic includes…
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Report Finds Latino Children Losing Ground in Health Coverage
Decades of progress providing health coverage to more Latino children has begun to erode, with the number of uninsured Latino children climbing to 1.6 million and the uninsured rate growing from 7.7 to 8.1 percent between 2016 and 2018, according to a new report by UnidosUS and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. This marks…
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CMS Should Withdraw Medicaid State Financing and Supplemental Payment Rule That Undercuts COVID-19 Relief Bill’s Enhanced Federal Medicaid Match
[Editor’s Note: On March 18, 2020 the Senate passed and the President signed into law the bipartisan Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) after this blog was published.] Today (March 18, 2020), the Senate is expected to pass the House-passed coronavirus relief bill (H.R. 6201) and send it to the President’s desk. The bill…
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CMS Releases FAQ on COVID-19 for Medicaid and CHIP
The coronavirus pandemic is a stark reminder of the critical role that Medicaid and CHIP play in assuring the health of Americans, particularly during health emergencies, natural disasters, and economic downturns. Yesterday, CMS released a helpful FAQ relating to flexibilities Medicaid and CHIP agencies have in responding to this public health emergency. In particular, it…
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Increase in Federal Medicaid Matching Rate Should Be Essential Element of Any COVID-19 Response
Federal policymakers have started to consider how to address a serious economic downturn that could result from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. For example, the Trump Administration is pursuing a temporary payroll tax cut and tax deferrals for certain industries, even though the proposal would not provide effective fiscal stimulus, as the Center on Budget…
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Decade of Success for Latino Children’s Health Now in Jeopardy
Introduction All children deserve a healthy, secure foundation that enables them to lead long and productive lives. Although many factors influence a child’s trajectory, having access to health coverage is essential to a child’s healthy development and is correlated with better educational outcomes, higher paying jobs as an adult, and improved health over a lifetime.[note]K.…
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Medicaid and COVID-19
One of Medicaid’s many strengths is its ability to help states respond to public health epidemics. Through Medicaid, federal funds are available on an open-ended basis to match state costs of immunizing, testing, diagnosing, and treating over 71 million low-income Americans in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease. Which is a good…
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Indiana’s Own Medicaid Waiver Evaluation Shows Evidence of Coverage Losses
Indiana’s Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) demonstration, which has been approved in its current form since January 2015, has its extension application up for federal comment. If approved as is, the demonstration would be allowed to continue ten for years! The current HIP demonstration includes work requirements, a tiered benefit structure based on payment of monthly…
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Florida House Bill Targeting Parents on Medicaid Would Cause Huge Coverage Losses
Florida’s legislature is at it again, despite a recent strong Appeals Court ruling that Medicaid work requirements are not permitted by the statute. A bill to impose the harshest Medicaid work reporting requirements in the country on very poor parents – mostly women – is moving through Florida’s House of Representatives. An identical bill passed…
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HIDING THE BALL: The Trump Administration’s Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver Policy has Entered a New and Dangerous Phase
Section 1115 Medicaid waivers have been the tool of choice for the Trump Administration and CMS Administrator Verma’s efforts to mold Medicaid to their wishes since Congress failed to do so in 2017. Unfortunately, their wishes include allowing states to erect barriers to coverage (such as work requirements, raising costs for beneficiaries) and a recent…
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D.C. Circuit on Medicaid Work Requirements: Read the Statute
For over two years, CMS Administrator Seema Verma has been on a crusade to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries. Her agency has approved ten state “demonstrations” of work requirements under section 1115 of the Social Security Act. When federal District Court Judge James Boasberg ruled on four separate occasions that the Secretary’s approvals of…
