A unique and unprecedented set of public policy circumstances create a grave risk for the stability of health coverage in the year ahead for millions of children and families. First, some background. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress and the Trump Administration enacted a law in 2020, known as the Families First Coronavirus Relief […]
Introduction As of June 2021, over 40 million children were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP for their health insurance — the vast majority in Medicaid. From the month prior to the pandemic in February 2020, through June 2021, children’s enrollment increased by 11 percent. Now, about half of the nation’s children are covered by Medicaid […]
The Q4 2021 earnings reports are in, and the five largest companies in the Medicaid managed care market—CVS Health, Anthem, Centene, Molina, and UnitedHealth Group—did very well, thank you very much. CVS Health made $17.3 billion last year; Anthem, $7.5 billion; Centene, $1.8 billion; Molina, $1.0 billion; and UnitedHealth Group $24.0 billion. Not all of […]
Texas Expects to Get, But Not Give, Notice The Biden Administration came to town with clear intentions to review some of the waiver agreements that the Trump Administration had authorized – most notably on work requirements. We and others had urged the Trump Administration to reconsider the January 15th demonstration approval in Texas in light […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives in many ways and has taken an unprecedented toll on children’s mental health, exacerbating long-standing gaps in mental health care for children in the United States. According to CDC reports, children’s emergency room visits for mental health issues increased significantly during the pandemic, with visits for adolescent girls for […]
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, states have been utilizing Medicaid and CHIP disaster state plan amendments (SPAs) for temporary, additional flexibilities to respond to the challenges resulting from the pandemic. As the administration considers when to end the federally declared Public Health Emergency (PHE), states and stakeholders should think about how to continue […]
