Medicaid
-
Kaiser Releases Report on Impact of CHIP and Medicaid on Kids
By Keanan Lane September 2015 continues to draw closer, and with it, the question over whether funding for CHIP will be extended. As the discussion develops into a wider and more hotly contested debate, it will be important to bring out the evidence on how CHIP has proven effective in providing insurance access to children,…
-
Indiana Medicaid Expansion Waiver Not Yet Open for Public Comment
The federal government did not certify Indiana’s Section 1115 Medicaid Research and Demonstration waiver to expand its Healthy Indiana program as complete and open for public comment because the state did not conduct the required tribal consultation with the Potowatomi Indians. The waiver request can be seen here. We along with our partners at the…
-
Utah: Medicaid Expansion Report Presented to Legislative Health Reform Task Force
Presented to the Health Reform Task Force of the Utah legislature today the report, by Dr. Norman J. Waitzman of the University of Utah Department of Economics, gives extensive information about the people who would benefit should Utah decide to accept federal money to extend health coverage to low-income people in the state. Surprisingly, the Waitzman…
-
Two Americas: Hospitals, Charity Care and Medicaid Expansion
As we move halfway through 2014, rapid changes in how health care is being delivered to our lowest income families are taking place across the country. As I noted last week multiple surveys are showing a significant drop in the rate of uninsured adults nationwide, with most of the reduction coming in states that have…
-
Four New Reports Support BadgerCare Expansion
By Jon Peacock, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families The case for expanding BadgerCare coverage to all adults up to 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL) has been strengthened greatly by four new documents that were issued over the last few weeks. Although these four reports cover a wide variety of topics, and two don’t…
-
Why Editorial Boards Continue to Show Strong Support for Medicaid Expansion
Today and over the holiday weekend in states that have so far refused the federal money available for expanding Medicaid, news outlets continue to editorialize in favor of expansion. In Pennsylvania, The Scranton Times-Tribune decried the decision by the Governor and legislature to go home without either passing a budget or expanding Medicaid to 300,000…
-
Real People and a Medicaid Myth
There is a bizarre health care myth that continues to make the rounds without any basis in fact. Those opposed to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act continue to make the false claim that somehow enrolling people in health coverage under Medicaid is bad for an individual’s health and it is much better to…
-
Infographic: Southerners More Likely to be Poor, Uninsured and Live in a State that Denies Them Medicaid
A new infographic from the Kaiser Family Foundation this week lays out some of the ironies of the decision by many southern states not to accept federal money to expand Medicaid health coverage to their lowest-income citizens. With higher rates of poverty and adults more likely to be uninsured, the need for affordable coverage is…
-
Medicaid Primary Care Payment Rate Bump Is Worth Extending
By Judy Solomon, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities An increase in Medicaid primary care payment rates that was included in health reform is scheduled to expire at the end of this year. But with the need for cost-effective Medicaid primary care rising across the country, the current physician rates should be maintained — and…
-
A Closer Look at the Medicaid Coverage Gap: Most Work, Many in Rural Areas
While a majority of states have accepted federal money to expand health coverage to their lowest-income citizens, many states are still declining funding available under the Affordable Care Act. Reports based on recent federal census data from these states show that most people who would finally gain affordable coverage if Medicaid were expanded are working…
-
From Oklahoma: Mercy Health System Lay-Offs Mainly Due to States’ Failure to Expand Medicaid
The Oklahoman reported this week that Mercy, the sixth-largest Catholic health care system in the US, would be laying off hundreds of employees. Mercy said the “lack of Medicaid expansion in most of the states we serve” was a primary reason for the layoffs. The other states affected by Mercy’s decision include Arkansas (where Medicaid…
-
HIP 2.0 – Indiana’s Version of Medicaid Expansion
(Another chapter in the unfolding saga of Round 2 of Medicaid expansion, which I call “from simplicity to complexity”.) A few weeks ago I blogged about Governor Pence’s announcement of his intention to submit a waiver request to expand his Medicaid program using “Healthy Indiana 2.0” as a starting point. The state is currently taking…
-
How Have Medicaid, CHIP Expansions Improved Educational Outcomes for Kids?
By Keanan Lane One of the best ways to promote health care access is through health insurance; however, health care access is not the ultimate goal. Ultimately, the hope is for health care to help individuals lead healthy and productive lives. A NBER Working Paper sheds light on public insurance’s role in promoting both of…
-
Oklahoma Musicians: Stand (Let Your Voice Be Heard) on Expanding Medicaid (Video)
Last week, a group of talented musicians in Oklahoma released a powerful recording about the need to fill the massive gap in health care coverage in their state. (Hat tip: OK Policy Institute.) Noting that over 650,000 state residents – including many professional musicians – do not have health coverage despite working at one or…
-
Improving Enrollment for Immigrant Families Could Cut the Number of Uninsured Kids in Half
It’s hard to believe that the next open enrollment period is only 5 months away. As the federal marketplace and states work to fix enrollment challenges, it’s important to consider what groups are most likely to be uninsured and smooth their pathway to coverage. A study recently came out that makes it clear that enrollment…
-
Delaying Care: Treatment Effects of High Cost Sharing
By Keanan Lane A recent study appearing in JAMA provides further insight into the effects of cost sharing on patients with chronic illnesses, finding that higher amounts resulted in greater delays of necessary treatments. Parents were surveyed about financial pressure they felt in treating their children’s asthma and whether, in the presence of financial pressure,…
-
Protecting Medicaid Kids at Renewal
By Martha Heberlein As my colleague, Tricia Brooks, noted a few weeks ago, MAGI-based renewals are upon us in many states (save those that have delayed them, which we talked more about in a separate blog). And buried within the ACA is a little-known provision that specifically protects children who were enrolled in Medicaid (but…
-
Governor Pence Announces Plans to Expand Medicaid to Hoosiers in the Coverage Gap through Healthy Indiana 2.0
In what I think is a very significant political development, Governor Mike Pence announced his intention to submit a Section 1115 Medicaid waiver proposal to the federal government by the end of June, which would extend coverage to the newly eligible parents and adults below 133% of the federal poverty line. One reason Indiana was…
-
Health Coverage for Immigrant Children and Families? Two New Studies Support Moving Forward
Two new studies published in Health Affairs support state efforts to expand coverage for immigrant children and families. Coverage for immigrant kids and pregnant women In 2009, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act provided a new opportunity for states to receive federal funding to cover lawfully present low-income kids and pregnant women in Medicaid…
-
Delaying Renewals – Still an Option for States
By Martha Heberlein An option provided by CMS to states to delay renewals so that they wouldn’t be running eligibility the old and new way, has a second purpose as states face processing back logs and fixing systems glitches. Taking a step back – the ACA requires that existing beneficiaries be protected against losing coverage…