As families and parents across the country eagerly await approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5, new guidance from CMS reaffirms that states must cover stand-alone vaccine counseling for children covered by Medicaid under EPSDT. According to guidance released last week, CMS reiterates that under Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment […]
[UPDATE as of August 16, 2022: HHS Secretary Becerra signed an extension of the Public Health Emergency on July 15, 2022. With less than 60 days before the end of the current PHE, which runs through mid-October, it is expected that the PHE will be renewed again as the Biden administration did not issue a […]
Among the Covid-19 pandemic’s most pernicious aftershocks is its impact on student mental health. Isolated at home, disconnected from friends, and suffering trauma from family members’ job losses or Covid-related deaths, students are experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression. About 44 percent of adolescents experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the pandemic compared to […]
More people had stable access to Medicaid coverage in the year after giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, which suggests that the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s Medicaid continuous coverage provision, which linked receipt of enhanced federal Medicaid and CHIP funding to a prohibition on involuntary disenrollment from Medicaid during the COVID-19 public health emergency, […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued final rules for provider network adequacy in Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) offering coverage in the Marketplaces that the federal government operates through HealthCare.gov. Under these rules, which come with the snappy title, “Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters” and the even snappier initialism (NBPP), CMS […]
A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) estimates the COVID-related increase in federal Medicaid and CHIP funding will exceed the cost of maintaining continuous coverage for Medicaid enrollees as required under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The analysis estimates that between January 2020 and September 2022, states will receive approximately $100.4 billion […]
