Medicaid
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Crossing Into New Territory with 25,000 Newly Covered Kids
By Anna Strong, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families At Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, we’ve been working for many years to ensure that all children have health coverage here in our state. Our latest report, Crossing into New Territory: Kids’ Health Coverage in 2014, outlines the progress Arkansas has made in covering kids since…
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Florida Legislature Adjourns with Unfinished Medicaid Business: Federal Hospital Funding to Run Out in 2015 Putting the Pressure on For Next Year
The Florida legislature adjourned for 2014 without accepting the federal Medicaid funding on the table to extend coverage to as many as a million Floridians who would have been eligible. According to the state’s Social Services Estimating Conference, for the current fiscal year (which will end on June 30, the state could have received $1,258,054,808…
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Washington State’s Hard Work on Medicaid Renewals Pays Off
As part of my colleague’s blog series on renewals, I wanted to share how hard work is paying off on Medicaid renewals in Washington state. Washington is among the first states in the country to get started on MAGI-based renewals. What are MAGI-based renewals? Just like new applications, renewals in Medicaid will be based on…
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Schools Play Important Role in Connecting Kids to Coverage
Donielle Rooks, CCHI Program Coordinator The idea that schools are a link to successful children and families is not new. Growing up, my parents received all types of information from my school about academics, fundraisers, before and after school programs and community organizations that helped provide basic services. Most families understood that if they had…
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Experience of Ohio Family Depicts Plight of the “Loopers”
Remember the Medicaid loopers? These were the folks who applied for coverage through the health insurance Marketplace only to be told they – or a family member – were not eligible because the Marketplace assessed them as eligible for Medicaid coverage. In some cases, parents did not learn that their child was not on their Marketplace…