Medicaid
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Hot Off the Press: Annual KFF 50-State Survey on Medicaid
This 17th annual KFF survey and key resource for Medicaid stakeholders reports eligibility, enrollment, renewal and cost-sharing policies in place as of January 2019 for children, pregnant women, parent/caretakers, and low-income adults in Medicaid and CHIP. Like the previous year, for the most part states continued to refine their efforts in delivering a streamlined, data-driven…
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Harnessing Medicaid Payment Reform to Improve Child Health
Child health stakeholders have eagerly followed the progress in New York State’s First 1,000 Days Initiative aimed at using value-based purchasing (VBP) in Medicaid to assure a healthy start and school readiness. Now, the United Hospital Fund (UHF) – the backbone of New York’s effort – has published a brief that explores the context and…
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Florida House Committee Approves Bill to Impose Harsh Medicaid Rules on Low-Income Parents
A Florida House Committee recently (3/13) approved HB 955, on a party line vote, a bill that would authorize the Governor to seek a Section 1115 Medicaid waiver to impose likely the most punitive work reporting requirements in the nation on very poor parents receiving their health coverage through Medicaid. Because Florida has not expanded…
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How Would Utah’s Medicaid Partial Expansion Waiver Break New Ground if Approved
Utah’s legislature recently passed a bill which rolled back the Medicaid expansion passed by the voters in November and substituted a much weaker replacement. With the Governor planning to start enrollment on April 1st into the more limited version, we expect some action by CMS on Utah’s pending Medicaid Section 1115 proposal in the next…
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CCF Comments to Administration’s Harmful Rebate Safe Harbor Rule
We submitted comments to the Trump Administration’s proposed regulation to eliminate the safe harbor in the federal anti-kickback law for rebates negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) on behalf of Medicaid managed care plans (and Medicare Part D plans). As we have previously written, the proposed regulation raises serious concerns because it would likely…
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More News on T-MSIS – Medicaid’s Transformed Statistical Information System
Say Ahhh! readers know I’ve been following the development of CMS’ new Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) for…well…years. The last news we got on T-MSIS was last August when CMS released a State Health Officer Letter detailing its top 12 priorities for states, which I summarized in this blog. Recently, CMS issued a new…
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2019 Medicaid and CHIP Snapshot Data Sources
Name of CHIP Program Kaiser Family Foundation, CHIP Program Name and Type, State Health Facts (as of May 1, 2015). Please note that effective 2013 the former California CHIP program,California Healthy Families Program has been converted into Medi-Cal. Type of CHIP Program Kaiser Family Foundation, CHIP Program Name and Type, State Health Facts (as of May 1, 2015). Number…
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Evaluating the Administration’s Narrative on Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements
It turns out that last week was Never Mind Week. Who would have guessed? On Monday the Administration released its “Budget for a Better America,” proposing to cut federal Medicaid spending by nearly $1.5 trillion (with a “t”) over the next ten years. These cuts included a mandate that state Medicaid programs require that “able-bodied,…
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Four Steps to Improve Children’s Oral Health Care in Medicaid and CHIP
Our partners at the Children’s Dental Health Project (CDHP) released a great report recently called, “Medicaid Dental Guidance to States: An Opportunity to Aim for Equity,” highlighting how states, managed care organizations (MCOs), providers, and advocates can work to improve dental care for children covered by Medicaid and CHIP. The report draws from CMS guidance…
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CMS Announces Reorganization of Offices Overseeing Medicaid and CHIP
CMS recently announced a reorganization of the regional and central offices that oversee Medicaid and CHIP. It’s too soon to tell how the re-org will impact the day-to-day operations of Medicaid and CHIP, but the federal register notice says that the new structure will support consistent policy implementation and accountability. You may not have even…
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Administration’s Budget Proposal Includes $1.5 Trillion in Medicaid Cuts
[Editor’s Note: Read about the Trump Administration’s budget proposal for FY2021.] Here they go again. Last year, the Administration proposed a budget that would have cut federal Medicaid spending by $1.4 trillion over ten years. In the budget released this morning, the Administration proposes to cut federal Medicaid spending by $1.5 trillion over the next…
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What States Can Do to Help Babies and Their Families Thrive
Each baby is born with limitless potential, and anyone who has ever held a baby has felt the enormity of opportunity ahead. But as ZERO TO THREE and Child Trends’ 50-state assessment of the state of babies in the United States finds, some babies come into the world facing more obstacles than opportunities. One in…
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Child Enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP Down 600k Children in 2018
After CMS released October 2018 Medicaid and CHIP data, we reported that child enrollment was down by more than half a million children in the first 10 months of 2018. So needless to say, we were anxious to see the final November 2018 numbers, which were just released. In November 2018, child enrollment in Medicaid…
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How to Assess the Impact of Health Coverage Expansion Proposals on Children
With the outcome of the Congressional midterm elections, the risk of federal legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and impose a cap on federal Medicaid funding has receded. Some federal policymakers are instead renewing focus on how to again make substantial progress towards the goal of universal coverage. This need has become…
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The Questions to Ask When Assessing the Impact of Coverage Expansion Proposals on Children
Sixth in a series of briefs on the future of children’s health care coverage Introduction With the outcome of the November midterm elections, the risk of federal legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and impose a cap on federal Medicaid funding has receded. Instead, there is renewed attention by some policymakers…
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Medicaid and State Budgets: Checking the Facts (Yet Again)
It’s that time of year again. Estimators publish their projections of Medicaid spending, journalists report on the projections, and policymakers decide whether and how they want to act. Medicaid covers up to 35 million low-income children, so getting these projections right, and explaining them correctly, is hugely important for public understanding of the program. Unfortunately,…
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It’s Time to Focus on the Future of Children’s Health Coverage
With the bad news that the nation’s uninsured rate for children went in the wrong direction for the first time in nearly a decade, it’s time for kid’s health to get back to the top of the agenda for policymakers. Here at CCF, we’re reinvigorating a project we started a few years ago that aims…
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Uninsured Children in the United States
Researchers at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families publish this report annually. 2018 Nation’s Progress on Children’s Health Coverage Reverses Course 2017 Nationwide Rate of Uninsured Children Reaches Historic Low 2016 Children’s Health Coverage Rate Now at Historic High of 95 Percent 2015 ACA Helps Bring Child Uninsured Rate Down To New Record…
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First Round of Arkansas 2019 Medicaid Data Shows More Coverage Losses Are on the Way
Last week, the state of Arkansas released its latest round of data on implementation of its Medicaid work reporting requirement – the first in the country to be implemented. As readers of SayAhhh! know, over 18,000 lost coverage in 2018 as a result of not complying with the new reporting rules. And the policy is…
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CMS Administrator Ignores Congressional Advisory Committee Recommendation
In 2009, Congress created the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) to advise it on coverage for low-income Americans through Medicaid and CHIP. One of MACPAC’s statutory responsibilities is to “review and assess…Medicaid and CHIP eligibility policies, including a determination of the degree to which federal and state policies provide health care coverage…
